Wolf Stables
by Amme Moto
Summary: Strange things are happening in Mineral Town. There's rumor that the Wolvites are targeting their new lands. When the new farmer comes face to face with the Wolvites, will the town stand up with her? Or will they cast her to the shadows, deserted?
1. Brigget

Brigget walked through the town in a daze, her green eyes wide and curious as she searched for a place to stay. Her blue overalls were dirty from walking and her white undershirt almost a full brown. She brushed off as much as possible before looking upward. Night was coming to the town.

"I wonder if they have a hotel I could live in…." She wondered out loud. Not one in sight. "Or, maybe a map so I could find my way out of here?"

"There's a map right there, ma'am." Brigget jumped into the air at the voice, sweatdropping. As she calmed down, she placed a hand onto her green backpack and readjusted it. She rubbed around her turquoise choker and chuckled meekly.

The man who addressed her stood behind her, his eyes wide at her reaction to him. His blonde hair stuck out slightly behind him, his bushy eyebrows cocked and his blue eyes wide. His body was completely still, his forest green long-sleeved shirt tucked into his sweat pants. The green sweat-band around his head hung slightly crooked on his perplexed face.

"Are you okay, ma'am?" He asked, extending an arm.

"My name is Brigget." Brigget explained, fixing her bandana. "And it was nothing; you just surprised me."

"Oh, well, I'm Rick. It's nice to meet you." He scratched the back of his head nervously. "Are you lost, or what? Do you need to find your way back to Flower Bud?"

Brigget stared blankly at him.

"Do you know what Flower Bud is?" Rick asked. The girl shook her head.

"I came from the boat, that way." Brigget pointed a gloved finger toward the beach. "Me and Ribbon just need a place to stay."

Rick ignored the woman's bad grammar for the time being. "Ribbon?" He asked. Brigget nodded.

"Yeah, she's my dog-friend. She's looking for some food right now." Brigget smiled.

"So how long do you need to stay?" Rick questioned.

"Well, I was hoping to settle down for as long as possible, but I need to find some space, first. Then I'll need to find a new job, so right now I'm just looking for a place to stay the night at." Brigget explained.

"Oh, well, the Inn here is full up this season, with Grey, Kai, and Cliff staying there." Rick told. Brigget slumped her shoulders.

"That means we'll have to find another town. Where was that Flower Bud town you mentioned?" Brigget placed her pinkies in her mouth and whistled loudly.

"Well, you could stay at our place if you need a place to stay. The eight o'clock bell is about to ring, and it's getting pretty dark. As long as your dog doesn't bite chickens, you could sleep in my sister's room with her." Rick suggested.

"Really?" Brigget asked. Rick nodded.

"Sure, if you want."

A beagle bounded up to Brigget and began rubbing her muzzle across the woman's legs. Brigget picked up the offending dog and squeezed her.

"Hey, Ribbon! We get a place to stay tonight!" She said. The dog barked approvingly. "But it's a chicken farm, so behave yourself. Got it? We don't want the Greely Accident all over again." The dog's head bobbed up and down.

It was nodding its head. Rick stared at the dog for a moment, wondering how it could have done that. Brigget waved a hand in front of his face.

"This is all I have with me," She said, turning slightly to show him the green backpack. There was a slight cut in the lower right pocket, highlighted a strange red aura. "And it's torn."

"We could fix it for you; my mother is a great needlewoman." Rick offered, walking in the opposite direction. Brigget followed, her dog a few steps behind her.

"Oh, no." Brigget insisted. "It's fine. It works just as well."

"Well, alright." Rick smiled at her. "Here's our home." He pointed to his house.

The yellow paint on the house clashed with the forest green sign on the top, and the darker still roof, but it looked nice all the same. To the right of Brigget and Ribbon was a fence where chickens were kept. Ribbon growled in a low tone. Brigget paused to hear her dog's growling, then scoffed.

"It looks great to me." She told her dog. "I don't know why you're so wound up." She listened to the dog's continued growling. "Huh! As if."

"Are you hungry?" Rick asked, opening his door. "We've got plenty of food."

"Rick! Who are you bringing home now?" The childish voice sent a chill up Brigget's spine. A pink-haired girl, scowl on her face, ran up to Rick and pulled on his ear. Her jumper jumped as Rick cried out in pain. She eyed Brigget and her dog. "Oh! Hello there!" She was instantly happy. The smile on her face grew toothily and she released her brother. "My name is Popuri. What's yours?" She knelt down and hugged the beagle, not waiting to see if it bites.

"I'm Brigget, and this is my friend Ribbon." Brigget explained.

"The inn is full tonight, so I told her she could stay in your room. Is that okay?" Rick asked. Popuri cocked an eyebrow.

"I don't know. Mom! Is it okay if Brigget spends the night?" She ran upstairs.

There was an awkward silence between Rick and Brigget as the woman sat at the table smiled sheepishly. The house looked well-kept, as if no speck of dust had ever intruded the place.

"So," Rick started shakily. Brigget stared at him, her eyes flashing into a yellow tint. She blinked, returning the green hue. Rick pulled his collar. "How old are you?"

"I'm twenty one." Brigget cocked an eyebrow. Not the most usual conversation-starter.

"Really?" The man asked. "I'm twenty." Brigget grinned.

"Great." She bowed her head slightly. "So, do you have any open houses I could move into?"

"As a matter of fact," The woman at the table stated. She looked exactly like Popuri, yet many years older. "There is a farm that was abandoned a while back. You could live there if you asked the Mayor. I think the old furniture from the last owners is still there."

"Alright, I'll check it out tomorrow." Brigget nodded. "Thanks for letting me stay. Is there anything I can do to make up for it?"

"Well, are you and your dog good at raising chickens?" Lillia, the Popuri look-alike asked. Brigget nodded.

"I lived on a farm with a man named Greely for a little while. I handled chickens then." She answered.

"Great! You could help Rick tomorrow with the chickens." Lillia suggested. Brigget nodded.

"I'll do it."

-----

Brigget sat on the fence with Popuri, with her right leg twisted over her left. Her hands rested on the fence, holding her up. She smirked as she watched Rick work with the chickens. Popuri looked bored next to Brigget.

"He can never get the chickens in until he can catch all of them." She sighed. "It's so boring to watch him if you've seen him do it everyday." She rested her head in her hands. Brigget snorted.

"He can't get the chickens in? Why not?" She watched as Rick ran after a persistent chicken. He fell flat on his face, with no chicken. Brigget giggled.

"They won't stop running around." He answered, standing and brushing the dirt off of his apron. "I thought you were supposed to help, Brigget!"

"I'm supervising." She shrugged. "And besides, you wouldn't like it if I helped."

"Yes, I would." Rick whined. "This is getting very annoying. I can't get any of them today."

"Have you tried cornering them?" Brigget asked.

"Corner a chicken? Are you _nuts_? Even the meekest will attack you then." Rick countered. Brigget sighed.

"Well, then, I know a way." She shrugged. "I'll do it on one condition: you don't ask how I did it."

Rick raised an eyebrow, but held out his hands. "Alright," he started. "Do it."

Brigget didn't get off of the fence. She stuck her thumb and her pinky into her mouth and whistled. The sound which came out eerily resembled a wolf's howl. It slowly went up in tone.

One by one, the chickens all stopped clucking and turned to Brigget.

"Come on, guys!" She told them. "He's had enough games. Get in the coop already. It's going to rain soon."

Rick burst out laughing. All she did was whistle and talk to the chickens! What a stupid thing to do.

Yet, the chickens bolted for the coop. Brigget snickered, pulling her choker slightly loose.

"Whoa." Popuri gawked, her mouth agape and her eyes wide. "How did you—How could—when did—"

"It's _not _going to rain today! There're clear skies all over the place." Rick growled, a little insulted.

"Yes, it is." Brigget answered, swiping her hair behind her. "Come on, Ribbon. Let's go find the Mayor." She leapt off of the fence. "Oh, and that chicken with the red mark on its right wing is feeling kind of funny. She's going to get sick." She adjusted the strap of her backpack on her left shoulder. "Good luck, Rick. I'll be back for a chicken sooner or later."

"If it rains today I'll give you a free one." Rick answered, still miffed.

"As tempting as it sounds, I'd rather not. I'd rather try and make up my own money and buy a chicken." Brigget patted Rick's shoulder. "See ya, Popuri."

-----

"Are you Mayor Thomas?" Brigget asked the stout man. He jerked his head up, making his tall red hat fly off of his head.

"Yes, yes I am." The Mayor replaced his hat on his head. "What can I do you for?"

"Can I have that old abandoned farm? I need a place to stay for a while." Brigget said. The Mayor raised an eyebrow.

"Well, sure. Who are you, again?" The man began making his way through the city, apparently to the old farm.

"Oh, I'm sorry. My name is Brigget, and this is my dog Ribbon. Say hi, Ribbon." The dog lifted up its paw and barked. The Mayor laughed.

"That's adorable!" He suddenly became serious. "Now, I hope you realize that this farm hasn't been taken care of since the last farmer left, three years ago." Brigget shrugged.

"We can take it." She answered. The man entered the farm.

It seemed like any other farm. It came equipped with a stable, a barn, and a chicken coop. The house stood in the top left corner of the property, and was pretty small.

"Looks great. I'll take it." Brigget nodded.

"You will?" The Mayor gawked.

"I will. I could use a place like this." Brigget crossed her arms.

"Well, that's great, then. I'll come over in a week to check up on you." The Mayor bowed, picking his hat up from the ground as it dropped, and left.

Sighing, Brigget entered the house, letting Ribbon in as well. She rubbed her choker thoughtfully.

"Hopefully we can stay here for a while without them finding us." She said to Ribbon. The dog barked at her. She shook her head.

"No, they don't know I'm still alive. They probably think I died years ago." She sighed, sitting on the bed. Ribbon jumped up with her. "But we can't be too careful. Knowing our luck, Big Bad Boss Man's already figured out I'm still alive."

Ribbon licked her hand lovingly.

"I sure hope I won't put this town in any danger." Brigget rubbed Ribbon's ears.

Someone pounded on the door. Raising an eyebrow, Brigget opened the door.

"Yes?"

It was the Mayor.

"I forgot!" He smiled. "For the reports and the papers, I need a name for the farm."

Grinning herself, Brigget leaned against the door frame.

"That's easy. Wolf Stables."

-----

Rick laid on his bed, staring at the ceiling. What had _that _been about? Brigget just whistled and talked to the chickens and they'd gone into the coop more than cooperatively. Then she suddenly took off to find the Mayor to get her farm. The chicken boy sighed, shrugging.

"I can always check up on her later." He murmured to himself. He chuckled. "Probably after it stops raining."

Like it was going to rain. The sun had been right above them with not a cloud in sight. How could she make the blatant excuse that it was going to rain?

Before he could think up another frustrating thing about Brigget, the door swung open. Popuri ran in, panting. Her hair was soaked.

"Did you go to the Hot Spring?" Rick asked, sitting up.

"No, Rick. I didn't." She seemed more than a little miffed. Rick pointed rudely at his sister.

"Then how could you get—"

"Rick…."

"Did you take a shower?"

"Rick—"

"I know! You fell off the pier!"

"No, Rick! Listen to me!" Popuri smacked her brother across the head. She took a deep breath and pointed to the window.

"Rick…it's raining."

-----

**That's where I'll end it. P_lease _don't ask me when I'll update. It'll probably be a while since I have to take a few weeks vacation to the lake and then I still have to write it.**

**Please review!**

**Amme Moto**


	2. Sawyer

"**Run, Mika! You've got to get out of here!" **

**The small blonde stood on the clifftop, her mouth agape and her four year old body frozen. Her tunic hung lazily on her shoulders, as parts of it still smoldered from the fire which engulfed the child's house. Mika's sister—the one who yelled—stood pinned to a boulder by a large man in black armor.**

"**Mira…." Mika murmured. **

"**Mika, get out! Leave! He can get my collar, but don't let him take yours!" The twin sister cringed as the man made a move for her turquoise collar. She slapped him across the armor and kicked his abdomen. Nothing happened.**

"**Mika, you've got to fly. Now!"**

**Mika had a choice. Stay and die at the hands of this Big Bad Boss Man, or jump off the cliff behind her.**

**She jumped.**

Brigget sat up crossly, crying out as she looked around the room. Nothing was on fire. She wasn't on a cliff….

And no Big Bad Boss Man.

"That's the third night in a row." Brigget rubbed her head thoughtfully as Ribbon rubbed up against her master's side. Brigget ran a finger along her turquoise choker, sighing.

"I've got to finish the duplicate in a hurry."

-----

Rick sighed, injecting the last of the medicine into the red-winged chicken. He stood, wiping the sweat from his brow. It'd been five days since the raining incident, and no one had heard from Brigget since. Every now and then people would see her at her farm, and Zach said he always found items to ship in the box, but she was always busy. Rick growled in frustration.

Why did everything have to happen to _him_?

It wasn't fair. It couldn't be fair. There was no way that anything that had happened to him by her was _fair_. First she gets the chickens into the coop without touching them, then she predicts the weather, then she tells him his own chicken gets sick and four days later it's eggless.

What a week.

Placing the rest of the chickens outside, he picked up the corn. Hastily he pushed it into the mill. The feed came out. He began spreading it into the boxes.

That's when he saw it.

He didn't know what it was, but it was gray. It flashed past, so he only caught it out of the corner of his eye. But there still was no way he could have missed it. It had almost flown by, keeping close to the ground.

Could it have been a dog?

Unlikely. It was gray, and both Hannah and Ribbon were orange. He dismissed the thought. It had to be something else. A wolf, maybe? But there weren't any wolves in Mineral Town.

Wolf Stables.

For some reason, the name crawled into his train of thought too easily. The Mayor had told everyone in the bar that night about how easily the name of the farm came to her.

Shrugging, Rick made his way back into his house.

"Here's your gold." The familiar voice said. Rick stared at the woman, amazed.

It was Brigget.

She now wore a red pair of overalls, with her red bandana still secured over her hair. Her brown hair lay in low pigtails across her back. She smiled at Rick.

"Hi, Rick." She said. "I just came to get a chicken."

"She's already got the money for one." Popuri squealed. "So we're going to get her one."

"Would you mind taking it to her once we give it the right inoculations?" Lilia asked. Rick sighed, a frown creasing his brow. It'd only been a week. How could she have come up with 500 Gold in _that _little amount of time?

"Yeah." He gritted his teeth. This woman annoyed him to no extent. "Yeah, I'll take the chicken to her."

"They like it if you name them, you know." Popuri insisted. Brigget rubbed her chin.

"What would be a good name?" She asked herself. "What about Sigil? In my home it means Bringer."

"Bringer?" Rick repeated. Brigget nodded.

"The Bringers brought food to our home." She explained. "So in a way, the chicken _is _a Bringer." Shrugging, Brigget bowed.

"I'll be waiting for my chicken."

-----

_Stupid chicken. It's not **my** fault Popuri let it go when we were injecting it. She's scared of seeing the chickens get hurt. We had to get another chicken. _

The farm was totally cleaned up. Rick recalled the time when there were rocks straddled across the field and branches and weeds imbedded into the ground. Now there were no more weeds, the branches had been moved to a space next to Brigget's house, and the rocks were either smashed into pebbles or cleverly made into a fence around the field. Instead of destroying the beehive that resided in the apple tree next to the pond, Brigget had turned it into a honey hive. Chuckling, Rick watched as the small foal that Brawly had given Brigget trotted up to him happily. The chicken in Rick's hands cuckooed slightly as Rick set him down.

"Hey, there," Rick rubbed the foal's nose. "Where is Brigget? Do you know?" The horse looked to the top of the house. Rick turned to stare.

It was a wolf.

The gray wolf glared at Rick, growling intensely. It showed its pearly white teeth at the boy, licking its chops as it increased the volume of its growl.

Rick stood defensively in front of the foal, which just nickered and stared at the roof. The wolf disappeared over the edge of the roof.

Rick raised an eyebrow. How could a wolf get that high onto the roof? It was physically impossible for it to climb up the ladder and sit onto the roof.

It would have to have wings.

"Thinking the roof is going to fall on me?" Brigget's voice surprised Rick. She stood next to her house, leaning onto the ladder. "I thought you weren't coming for a while. Didn't mean to scare you."

"There's a wolf on your roof!" Rick sputtered. Brigget burst out laughing.

"A _wolf_? On my roof? Are you sure? You could have been mistaken. Without thumbs to climb the ladder, you'd have to have wings to get up there." Brigget rubbed her backpack as she said the word 'wings'.

"It was there. I saw it!" Rick insisted. Brigget shrugged.

"Alright. Let's go check." She climbed the ladder next to her. "Nothing's up here but a huge roof and a bunch of bird droppings. No sign of any wolves." She climbed back down. "Maybe the heat's been getting to you. Do you want something to drink?"

"Sure." Rick followed Brigget into her house and sat at her large round table, folding his hands together on the face of it. Brigget handed him a glass of tequila.

"Tequila?" He asked, holding it up.

"Gets the heart pumping." Brigget answered, beaming. She chugged hers quickly, shaking her head and grunting as she swallowed. "Go on, try it."

Rick stared at the tequila questioningly.

"If you don't want it, I can also get you a glass of milk. I bought a little bit from Brawly." Brigget suggested, getting up to get it.

"No, no." Rick pulled her back down. "I'm alright with this."

He drank it. It wasn't like he hadn't had any tequila before, but only in the bar. He'd never heard of anyone having their own in their house.

"Is this why you're never in the bar at night?" Rick asked, getting a refill on his drink.

"Well I'm not really a people person. I have one of those faces that people recognize and call the officials on." Brigget shrugged, leaning back in her seat and laying her glass on her elbow.

"You're a wanted person?" Rick gawked. He couldn't picture Brigget as a person with a price on her head.

She shook her head. "It wasn't even my fault. A friend did something and I got blamed for it about three years ago."

"Well that's not fair." Rick agreed. Brigget smiled.

"When I find the guy responsible, I'll slug him." She said, fingering the rim of her cup.

There was a silence as Rick contemplated what to do next. When he first saw Brigget he'd wanted to help her out immensely. She'd seemed so lost, he had no choice. Then once she "helped" him with the chickens he felt jealousy. No one should be able to whistle and then tell the chickens to do something and have them obey. Rick had tried that when no one was looking a few days later and the chickens seemed as if they were laughing at his gaudy attempt to scare them. Now he felt like he needed her to get friends. She'd only been a week on the farm and the only thing people had heard of her were rumors that the farm was being worked again.

"Say," He suggested. "Why don't you come to the bar with me tonight to meet everyone?"

"That's alright," Brigget shook her head. "I already said I'm not a people person."

"Well, yes, but you need to get out more. No one knows who you are. Most have never seen you. Let me just introduce you to everyone. Have a few drinks and stay for a while. I know you and Ann could be good friends. Just come." He pleaded. Brigget stared at him intently. Her serious expression changed quickly to a smile.

"Fine," She said, crossing her arms. "I'll come."

-----

Brigget walked into the bar, her arms crossed over her chest and her feet planted firmly below her.

"Well, it was nice coming here." She turned around after standing for a few seconds. Rick, no longer timid in front of the farmer, grabbed her arm and pulled her to the stools.

"Hi Ann." He said, waving to the small red head. Her braid bounced up and down as she jumped at the newcomer.

"You're that new farmer!" She cried. "Ooh! And you're here with Rick! He's snagged a good one this time!"

Brigget slowly allowed a smirk to cross her face, crossing her arms and turning to Rick.

"'This time'?" Rick chuckled nervously.

"It's nothing." He scowled at Ann. "Just get us some beer." Ann nodded. She filled two mugs and set them onto the table.

"So this is the new farmer." Said a voice behind Brigget. Her ears pricked and she spun around nonchalantly. A man with a green hat and a large feather on its rim stood in front of her. She cocked an eyebrow.

"That's right. My name is Brigget." She shook the man's hand.

"Name's Basil. Nice to meet you." He winked at her. She grinned.

"You're the plant guy. I saw you last Monday with your family. You were scaling the mountain like it was easy. I'll have to come with you one of these days." The man chuckled, brushing aside her praise to him.

"Well, I hope you're not planning to sit there and stare at the wall all night like Rick usually does. Come and have a conversation; and try to drag him with you! The boys and I are already in deep banter." Basil pointed to the table behind him. "There's Saibara, Mayor Thomas, Zach, and Officer Harris." Basil identified each man as he said their name. "They've asked me to cordially invite you into a little game of BeeRaps tonight." Rick rolled his eyes and moaned as Brigget chuckled uncertainly.

"I'm sorry, BeeRaps?"

"It's a drinking game." Rick rubbed his temples. "I was hoping this wouldn't happen."

"It's customary for all new villagers to be issued their first game of BeeRaps once they step foot into the Bar, but since you've already ordered your beer, we'll let you come and talk for a while before we start the game. We'll even explain the rules to you before we start." Basil winked again, grinning widely.

"You don't have to do this if you don't want to." Rick patted Brigget's shoulder. "You can turn them down."

"No thanks," Brigget nodded to Rick. "I'll play their game. But later."

"Then come join our conversation." Rick stood with Brigget to join Basil and his comrades at a table.

"Mission accomplished, Mayor." Basil joked. "May I introduce Brigget, the new farmer."

"Hello, there." Saibara, a portly man with scraggly gray hair sprouting from the sides of his head bowed his skull to the new farmer. "I run the blacksmith shop here in Mineral Town, and I also own a pottery shop in Flower Bud."

"I know you. Your grandson Gray helped me out the other day with all that wood I had to carry back." Brigget smiled politely. Rick scowled, rolling his eyes.

_He **would **go after her…. _Rick's thoughts were thought before he could stop himself. He found himself turning red and his eyes bulging.

"You should know the rest of us quite well, lass." The Mayor insisted. "Now you and your young chap come and join in our conversation."

Shrugging, Brigget took a seat and listened intently as Saibara grumbled that someone had brought him a hammer that had been snapped in three different places. Suddenly the conversation switched to Officer Harris and his finding of something gray shooting out of the corner of his eye. Rick sat up at this, and Brigget gasped, standing.

"Gray?" She asked, her jaw dropping. Harris cocked an eyebrow at her.

"Well, yes." He insisted.

"Was it out of the lower corner of your eye?"

"I believe so, yes. Why?" Harris became suspicious. Brigget gulped, sitting back onto her seat and interlacing her fingers together.

"No reason. It could have been a Wolvite." Brigget shrugged.

"A Wolvite?" The Mayor laughed, slapping a hand to his stomach. "Why would the Wolvites have any interest at all in our village?"

"Yes…. Why…." Brigget mumbled, rubbing her chin. Rick watched her intently.

"This town's gone to bad luck and worse if we've got Wolvites in it." Zach whispered, his voice hushing as if someone might be listening in. "Sinister creatures they are."

"You can't tell they're Wolvite until you see them transform into their wolf-like state." The Mayor added.

"So it makes them easy to spy on people." Harris finished.

"None of them have been seen for years," Saibara added. Brigget rolled her eyes. "They only show up when they're about to cause trouble. I heard the last town they were discovered in is now a deserted ghost town."

"For near seventeen years now the Wolvites have caused nothing but chaos and sentenced nothing but doom to all who cross their paths." Basil smirked. Rick glanced from Brigget to the other men at the table. Brigget seemed slightly annoyed.

"Is that _all _you know about the Wolvites? They can transform into wolves?" She seemed disgusted. "And it's not _their _fault they act like that. Someone just…. Grabbed them by the collar." She rubbed her own choker. "Literally."

The upstairs door swung open and a pair of boots clanged their way down. Rick stared up the stairs and watched as Kai strolled down, his purple bandana askew from laying on his bed and clothes ruffled. Brigget ignored the new presence and continued staring at a specific knot in the table. Rick groaned, shaking his head sadly.

_And **just **when things were looking so high, too. _Thought the poor poultry farmer sarcastically.

"Hey, Ann. Get me a vodka." He said, slapping his hand on the counter.

_This _is where everything went wrong.

Brigget gasped, standing.

"I know that voice." She turned, eyeing Kai. "Kai?"

Kai, bottle in hand, turned to face Brigget. He stared at her for a minute, searching her from top to bottom. His expression changed from a look of confusion to glee.

"Sawyer?" He asked, his jaw dropping. "Is that you? I haven't seen you in almost three years!"

"What?" Rick asked Brigget. "Brigget, did he just call you Sawyer?" Kai scowled at Rick.

"Sawyer, did he just call you Brigget?"

"Three years, Kai." "Brigget" sauntered up to Kai quickly, her face contorting into a look of malice.

She slugged him.

-----

**Yeah, yeah. It's a before school starts back special. I got out the second chapter. In the third chapter they actually explain and _play _BeeRaps, so if you don't like alcohol usage, what are you doing reading Harvest Moon anyway? Lol. Happy new school year everyone!**


	3. BeeRaps

Rick stared in blatant shock as Kai hit the floor, his bottle of vodka smashing down beside him. Brigget rubbed her fist, chuckling.

"Wow… that _did _make me feel better." She said, beaming.

"Aw, Sawyer." Kai stood, rubbing his jaw. "I understand you hitting me, but did you have to break the vodka?"

"It's no less than you deserve, and don't expect me to pay for another one." Brigget spat.

"Brigget," Rick waved a hand in the air, realizing that the whole bar had gone silent from shock. "Why did you hit Kai?"

"Better yet, how does she know him?" Ann asked. "Kai's been coming here every summer for years."

"Oh, has he?" Brigget glared at Kai, doubling her fist tightly a second time. Kai laughed sheepishly, covering his face.

"It's not like it seems, Sawyer. I promise." He told her.

"Oh that's reassuring." Brigget feigned a swing at him. Kai cringed.

"Why are you calling Brigget 'Sawyer'?" Rick asked, just as confused as anyone else.

"It's 'Brigget' now, is it?" Kai chuckled, brushing blood off of his chin.

"No thanks to you, you drunkard." Brigget prepared to slap him. Rick caught her arm.

"Wait." He said. "What's going on? How do you know him?"

Brigget sighed, letting her arm go limp in Rick's hand. Turning red, he let go of her arm.

"I met Kai five years ago in… was it Shoreline Town or Moongaze City? I can't remember."

"It was Rockyard Central." Kai corrected.

"Right, I'd just moved from Listless Village." Brigget snapped her fingers. "Anyway, I was wandering around trying to find work when Kai here invites me to Greely Farm to work. I told him yeah I would. So we become good friends for two years when I find out he's an alcoholic."

"But I've changed since then." Kai told Brigget. "You have to believe me, Sawyer."

"Right, and you're standing here crying over spilled vodka." Brigget growled. Kai sniffed.

"Wait." Mayor Thomas interrupted. "Rockyard Central sounds familiar. I've seen a flyer about that somewhere."

"Well, yeah." Kai shrugged. "It was in the newspapers three years ago."

"Mr. Greely—the owner of Greely Farm—decides to invite his old friend over, and his old friend wants to bring his own friend. A politician." Brigget continued. "So I'm there serving drinks to the men and being all polite when Kai here decides this is the best time to pull out his vodka." She glowered.

"So I got a little drunk!" Kai whined. "What's so bad about it?"

"What's so bad about it!?" Brigget repeated. "How can you ask that? You _punched _the politician, Kai! _I _got blamed for it!"

"Ouch." Doug whistled. "That couldn't have been good."

"Lucky for me, I'd dyed my hair red and had on blue contacts, so when they put up the Wanted Poster I looked different than what I'm supposed to be." Brigget shrugged.

"So you're a wanted person?" Ann asked, gawking. "Cool! A woman rebel!"

"Kid, you have no idea." Brigget rubbed her face.

"So how does that explain that he calls you Sawyer and we call you Brigget?" Zach asked.

"Well I can't go around calling myself Sawyer after that, now can I? I mean even with the different look I'd still be identified." Brigget shrugged.

"Makes sense," Basil nodded.

"But I didn't know Sawyer was in this town!" Kai said. "You should have come and told me."

"We _did _tell you, Kai." Thomas said. "We told you the new farmer's name was Brigget. She's been here for about a week and already gets a bigger check than you do."

"And Brigget here didn't decide to get cheeky with the other villagers until tonight. We were just about to explain the game of BeeRaps before you interrupted, Kai." Saibara scolded.

"Oh, I come down to get vodka and get slugged, and interrupting your evening was _my _fault?" Kai asked, thrusting his thumb into his chest sorely.

"Well Brigget wasn't very violent until you showed up, so I'd say yes." Zach said. Kai shrugged.

"How can I make it up to you guys?" He resigned.

"You can play BeeRaps." Brigget said. "You're a big drinking fan, and I seem to remember the pleasures of getting you drunk." Kai beamed, straightening and holding out a hand for Brigget to shake.

"It's a deal."

-----

Rick sat in a chair, one leg crossed over the other, with his arms folded. How had Kai been dragged into a drinking game with Brigget? He was already annoyed that they knew each other before Rick knew Brigget, but now that she'd invited him into the game personally, he was a little steamed.

"BeeRaps is a very simple game." Basil started. "All you need is these two dice and a heck of a lot of beer." He held up two dice in between his fingers.

"Beer, eh?" Brigget rubbed her chin. "I think I know what this is."

"It's playing craps with beer." Saibara said. "Losing side chugs the mug."

"Have you ever played craps before?" Rick asked. "It's a little complicated, so you might want them to explain."

"Sure, go ahead and tell me the rules." Brigget sat back.

"Well, the person shooting the dice is called the shooter. The first roll the shooter makes is called the 'come-out roll'." Zach started.

"I said the rules, not the basics." Brigget corrected, her eyes flashing.

"This one's got wit!" Harris slapped Brigget on the back.

"If you roll a seven or an eleven on the first roll then you win the bet. If you roll a two, a three, or a twelve on the first roll, you automatically lose. And if you roll a four, five, six, eight, nine, or ten then you have to roll that same number again." Thomas explained.

"Makes sense so far." Kai nodded. Rick snorted.

"Everyone bets on the shooter to either win or lose. If you bet that they're going to win and they lose, you chug. If you bet they're going to lose and they win, you chug. Simple as that." Zach finished.

"Alrighty then." Brigget shrugged. "Can't hold this off any longer."

"Let's see who can hold the most liquor." Thomas beamed, shaking the dice in his hands. "Let the BeeRaps begin! Doug, a round of beer and keep it coming."

"Aye, Thomas." Doug half-saluted in jest and brought mugs full of malty beer.

"We're now holding bets." Thomas said. "Am I going to win… or lose?"

"I'd say… lose." Brigget said, leaning back in her chair.

"You're going to win, Mayor!" Kai threw a fist in the air.

Basil and Harris both sided with Brigget. Zach and Saibara insisted that Thomas had a golden hand and bet on him to win.

Shrugging, Thomas shook the dice and slung them out onto the table.

Snake eyes.

"Well, look-y here." Brigget said, picking up the dice. A smirk flew across her face. "Snake eyes it is. Time to pay up, boys."

-----

"Let's see…." Brigget had just finished drinking her fifth mug of beer. Her head was buzzing slightly, and she slurred her words a bit. "Who's turn is it now?"

"It's Kai's." Zach hiccupped. Brigget giggled. He's just downed his ninth beer.

"You know," Slurred Kai as he fumbled for the dice. "I've never seen you hold the alcohol as well as you have tonight, Sigh-er." Kai mispronounced Brigget's old name like he was used to it.

"I've never seen you so weak at it." Brigget shot back. She glanced at Rick. His eyes were drooping and his head was lobbing slightly into his hand. His elbow sat crooked on the table, supporting him. She glanced at his watch. It was nearly midnight.

"Look, boys. This has been fun. But after this one me and Rick gotta get outta here." Brigget shook her head drowsily.

"You know, yoo-ooh neva did have da best gramma skli-sh-skills in the woild." Stammered Kai. "I bet four mugs that I'll win dis one."

"Four?" Thomas widened his eyes. "Kai, you've already had at least twelve."

"I call and raise." Brigget interceded. She held out five fingers. "Drinker has to drink nine mugs."

"That's a little over-kill, Brigget. The poor boy can barely see as it is." Harris cocked an eyebrow.

"A-An-And what makes yoo-ooh dink I canna win?" Kai asked, pulling out his wallet. "I'll raise it… I only got ninety G on me."

"I don't want your money." Brigget crossed her arms and smirked mischievously. "I want you to have the hangover of a lifetime."

"A-An-And I will." Kai nodded. "Buh I wanna wuh-wit-win on muh own trims."

"On his own what?" Thomas squinted.

"Terms." Brigget answered. "I don't want your money." She chuckled, a fire returning to her eyes. "I want my barn expanded."

"Yoo-oooooh got dit!" Kai gave her a slinky thumbs-up. "Then I want my own house."

"Then I want a new chicken coup as it is."

"I want a job."

"I want a second floor."

"Oh, cummon, Sigh-er! I dun got nothin-n-n-else." Kai began to really slur his words.

Rick was now wide awake. He looked from Brigget to Kai, a little surprised. Somehow the rules had slid from those of craps to those resembling poker. He rolled his eyes as Kai glanced at him, his glazed-over eyes searching for something to bet.

"That's the way it goes, Kai." Brigget shrugged, standing. "You don't have anything else." She pulled Rick to his feet. "We really should be going. It was wonderful playing with everyone, I'll come back sometime."

"No!" Kai stood now, an angry flare in his eyes. "That's not it. If I win, I get your collar."

Brigget froze, her spine going rigid. Her muscles tensed, and Rick turned to stare at her. Her face had run cold and one of her hands had flown to her neck, where her beautiful turquoise-beaded choker resided. She turned, rage in her eyes.

"I don't bet on that." She growled. Rick marveled at the resemblance between her threat and a dog's warning growl.

"Brigget, come on. Let's just get out of here." He said, pulling her back.

"Ask her why she never bets on her pretty little collar." Kai said, his slurring gone. Brigget glared. She raced back to the table and slammed a hand down onto the table.

"Fine." She said. "But if you lose, you come tomorrow morning at six o'clock and begin working on the chicken coop, the barn, _and _my second story. Hangover or not."

"Deal." Kai threw the dice on the table.

The next few moments are still a marvel to Rick. He watched as the dice hit the table and began rolling. Kai's face grew a huge grin. Brigget glanced at Rick. She then closed her eyes and mumbled something Rick couldn't make out.

And just as soon as the moment came, it left. Brigget's eyes were open, Kai's fist was on the table, and Rick's breath was let loose.

It was a three.

Brigget's eyes softened, and she sighed.

"Try and bet on my necklace again," She informed Kai calmly, "and see what happens." She slid nine mugs of beer over to Kai. "I'll see you in the morning."

-----

"**Momma! Momma, look what I made!" The little red-head cried happily.**

"**Ooh! What is it this time, little Mira?" Her mother asked happily.**

"**It's a cure for Gryphondyris!" Mira held it up to her mother.**

**Behind Mira popped out a small, blonde haired girl. She peered at the small vile with a small tinge of hatred.**

"**This is grand! Honey, come in here!" Mira's mother called. In trotted a tall man, with red hair like Mira. He glanced at the bottle with interest.**

"**Which child of ours made _this _one? Mita? Misa? Mira? I don't suppose the little failure child did it." Mira's father spat the last sentence. The girl behind Mira wimpered sadly.**

"**Now, Witka," The mother scorned lightly. "She's in the room. Don't talk that way about Mika."**

"**Which one made it?" Witka asked.**

"**It was Mira." The mother admitted. The man beamed.**

"**It's no wonder. She's the brightest child we have."**

"**Witka, I wish you wouldn't talk so with Mika in the room."**

"**She hasn't accomplished anything yet." Witka answered harshly. Mika squeezed her eyes shut and spoke before she thought.**

"**There's nothing left _to _accomplish!" She screamed. Witka started with surprise, dropping the cordial and breaking it into pieces.**

"**Girl!" He growled. He picked her up by her shoulders. He began shaking her.**

"**Ba—" Mira pleaded.**

"**Witka!" Her mother resounded.**

**Mika wanted him to let go. She bit him. He dropped her. She ran.**

A knock on the door woke Brigget up. She jumped up, feeling a small headache from the night before. She groggily opened the door.

Outside stood Thomas, Zach, and a terrible-looking Kai. Brigget's day was already brightened.

"Here he is, ma'am. Bright and early, like he promised." Zach pushed him forward.

"What? I don't remember—" Kai stammered. Brigget grabbed his sleeve and pulled him inside.

"No, I don't suppose you do. Let's get you inside and see if we can't get some coffee to stay down in you." She turned to Thomas and Zach. "Thanks, guys."

"Say, you don't look so good. Are you feeling alright?" Zach asked. He placed a hand on her forehead.

"I'm fine, I was just… having a flashback." Brigget smiled, gently slapping away Zach's hand. "If you see Rick on your way back, tell him I'll be by sometime today."

Thomas and Zach nodded, leaving promptly. Brigget turned to find Kai laying on her bed, asleep. She sat beside him and nudged him.

"Wake up, sleepy-head." She said, poking his head. "Construction isn't the only thing I need you to do today."

"Oh, you're going to make me knit, too?" Kai kidded, smiling weakly.

"No, nothing like that." She opened a drawer in the nightstand beside her. She pulled out a half-beaded turquoise choker. Kai stared at it, his eyes now wide.

"Is that—"

"It's a copy, yes. I need help finishing it. Now go get some coffee and get to work. You don't start with the chicken coop until eight, so you've got two hours to help me with this." Brigget instructed. Kai smirked knowingly.

"Sure, Mika."

-----

**I know I said I was going to update Just Like Me first, but I suddenly got a good idea for this one and I didn't want to pass it up. Since I will be grounded again once I get back to school, I'll keep my earlier promise. So please review, people, and I'll update as soon as I can.**

**Gryphondyris—Griff-on-dai-riss: "Gryphons" typically have wings. "Dyris" I made up as in "bleeds uncontrollably". No clue if it's a real suffix or not.**


	4. Prophecy

**Mika knocked on the stone doorway, waiting for someone to show up. A blonde woman came to the door, wiping her hands on her red apron. **

"**Good morning, Mika!" The woman shouted happily.**

"**Hello, Mrs. Tohru. I was wondering… is Tanya home?" Mika rubbed her toe into the dirt timidly.**

"**Of course she is! I'll go get her for you. Come in, come in. Witka Sigil just brought us our ration for the week, so I'm making bread. Perhaps when you and Tanya are done playing, you could assist me." Mrs. Tohru asked as she led Mika into the living room. Mika sat into a nice, large clay chair and nodded.**

"**Sure, Mrs. We'd be happy to help." She said as Mrs. Tohru disappeared. She appeared with a girl Mika's age, with hair as black as the night sky and sharp, green eyes that could stare through stone.**

"**Mika!" Tanya cried happily. The two girls hugged.**

"**Hey, Tanya." Mika pulled Tanya out the door. "I was going to head over to Uviles' house. I wanted you to come with me."**

"**Uviles?" Tanya repeated. "You're not going to seriously hear that poem again, are you?"**

"**It's _not _a poem, it's a prophecy." Mika corrected. "And besides, we've got nothing else to do anyway."**

"**We can go back and help Da with her bread." Tanya suggested. "And you love cooking, so it's a surprise that you turned her down. Which makes me think there's an ulterior motive to you wanting to go to the Prophet's house."**

"**What is it with you and your good guessing?" Mika flicked her friends' nose. **

"**You're running from Witka again, aren't you?" Mika stared at the ground. She could still taste the blood from when she bit him moments before.**

"**Ba just doesn't understand that I can't do anything if there's nothing to be done. I'm not as smart as the others. I can do almost everything everyone else can, but when it comes to inventing things for the greater good, I fail miserably."**

"**And you think hearing the 'prophecy' once again will help you." Tanya smirked knowingly. Mika grinned, shaking her head.**

"**No, this time, I'm going to ask if I can write it down. There's got to be a hidden meaning in there somewhere. And I'm going to find it."**

"**Then I have no choice but to go with you," The four-year-old Tanya stated. "The human is coming in for a conference today with all the adults, so it's not like we can do anything in the town today."**

**-----**

"**Uviles!" Mika called through cupped hands. "Uviles, are you home?"**

"**I'm here, girl, I'm here." Barked the dog next to Tanya. He'd been lying inside a stack of firewood. "What is it you want?"**

"**I want to—"**

"**No, no, no, I know what you want. You want to hear the prophecy again." The dog looked at Mika's hand, where the paper resided. "And you want to write it down. Very well, come inside."**

**The dog stood up, shook out its long, black fur and jumped into the air, twisting around. Its four paws changed into hands, and its hind legs transformed into legs. Soon there was a human in front of the two girls. He ruffled his jet black hair and beckoned them inside.**

"**I already know this one by heart, thanks to the little lady, you know." He winked at Mika, who blushed.**

"**Here, I'll write it down for you as I say it." Uviles took the paper. He took a breath, and with a deep, husky voice, he began to speak.**

"_**Mind the tides and the waves,**_

**_Inside one town in which one girl saves._**

**_Never she fear the twice monthly moon,_**

**_Ever which the young girl will swoon._**

_**Rich in sorrow, poor in faith,**_

_**All with good feelings, this one town will taste.**_

_**Life in abundance from one good clan.**_

_**Thrice the good seeds will spread across their land.**_

_**Of all, though, there is one short.**_

_**Who will end up nothing, her life abort.**_

_**Near death she'll escape, though one-winged and lame.**_

**_She'll find a friend, loyal and tame._**

_**Having one last look upon the desolation,**_

_**Away she will run to her new destination.**_

_**Lo, thrice this will happen, and thrice times more.**_

_**Lest she meets a young fellow to make her heart soar.**_

_**So here in this town where the chickens run free,**_

_**Alas, poor travelers who fly across the sea.**_

_**Vie, says the girl of that one little town.**_

_**Ever the traveler and she fight, don't go down.**_

_**Use the advantage of height, and a drop.**_

_**Should she need to come out on top.**_

_**Although this battle shall be long indeed,**_

_**Lean she on her friends when she's "open", and bleeds.**_

_**Lay with them, that girl, and one day her Ba will come and say:**_

_**Mind the tides and waves."**_

"**Huh?" Tanya asked as the man finished. "'Lay with them, that girl, and one day her Ba will come and say 'mind the tides and waves.'?'" She cocked her head to one side. "That makes no sense."**

"**Sure it does." Mika insisted. "He's just using poetic license. 'Lay with them' probably means this girl must stay with the town and then her father will come one day and remind her of this poem."**

"**This is the smartest girl I ever saw." Uviles ruffled Mika's poofy blonde hair. He handed her the parchment, with the poem now written onto it. "Now, off you go. I've got to go to that meeting with the human today."**

"**I don't like him." Mika insisted. "He's always smiling, and when he thinks no one is around he starts snarling at nothing." Uviles laughed heartily.**

"**Then it's a good thing you don't have to deal with him, isn't it?" He said. "You two can stay here while I'm gone, and when I come back we can have a cook out. Witka Sigil—you're Ba, Mika—gave me some extra ration for the week. Why let it go to waste?"**

"**I'll hold you to it," Mika insisted, jabbing a finger at him. He smiled and nodded.**

**-----**

"Sawyer? Earth to Sawyer! Come in, Sawyer! Do you hear me?" Kai waved a hand in front of the twenty-one year old. She blinked, shaking her head out of a daze.

"Oh, sorry." She stood up and stretched. Kai rubbed his head. "Do you want more coffee?"

"Please," Kai said, holding up his coffee mug. She took it and refilled it. "I'm almost done with this thing, you know." He held up the nearly-finished chocker identical to the one Brigget had on.

"Good for you. It's only a half-hour until eight. Then you can get started on my chicken coop. I already put them up in the fence for you. So don't worry about that. I'll have the strays keep them in line." Brigget tossed her long, blonde hair about.

"The wild dogs?" Kai gawked. "Are you _nuts_?"

"They listen to me." Brigget smirked. "They know if they disobey me, they're in trouble."

"I don't like it when you get that gleam in your eye, Sawyer." Kai cringed. "It always means strange things are going to happen." Kai jumped suddenly. "There! Done." Brigget snatched the chocker from him and compared it to her own. Even she couldn't tell the difference. She nodded.

"Good. Now you've got a half-hour of resting before you work until you drop. Lay on the bed and go to sleep; I'll wake you up when I need you."

She left.

-----

Brigget was nervous, standing outside her farm. Her chocker wasn't on. She was holding the real one in the right hand. Likewise, she held the fake one in her left hand. She gripped both of them tightly, as if the next person she saw was going to rip the real one from her hand. She took a deep breath, clipped the chocker in her left hand to her neck, and began walking to the Supermarket. Rick always spent his mornings there, talking with Karen.

Brigget didn't like Karen. Karen was mean, vain, and always trying to divert Rick's attention from Brigget. Huh. Brigget would take any chance she got to show up Karen.

There they were, chatting away on the bench next to the Supermarket. Brigget bristled as she caught Karen's eye.

"Yes, did you need something?" Karen asked coldly, leaning her head against Rick's shoulder. Rick stared back and forth from Karen to Brigget.

_You'd think by the way they hold a conversation,_ Rick thought_, that they didn't like each other. I wonder why that is._

"Not from you," Brigget spat, smirking. "I need to talk with Rick. It's important."

"Oh, did a chicken get sick?" Karen chided.

"No, you got uglier." Brigget growled. Karen glowered at Brigget, who had apparently won the round. Karen stood, malice in her eyes.

"I'm going in, Rick. The Supermarket is about to open." She hugged him for a moment and stormed into the store.

"You needed to talk to me?" Rick asked. "About what?" He turned his head sideways, confused. Why had Brigget's whole appearance changed in the last few seconds? She was shaking. "What's wrong?" He asked, taking one of her hands.

"I need to talk to you." She insisted. "But you can't tell anyone about it." Rick nodded. "Follow me." She pulled him to the beach. They sat down on the pier.

"So what's gotten you so worked up?" Rick asked her, feeling her forehead. "Are you sick."

"No, I'm fine, it's just…. I wanted to give you something." She said, holding out her right hand. "My Ba made this when I was born."

"Your Ba?" Rick inquired.

"My father." Brigget clarified. "And my Da—my mother—told me that one day I would have to give it to someone. And, and I want to give it to you." She held her right hand out to his extended palm and laid her chocker down on it.

"Your choker?" Rick was confused.

"Yes." Brigget nodded. "But there are certain rules to this." She clasped it around his wrist. It fit perfectly. In fact, Rick now felt a small buzz go through his body. Now Rick was really confused. Wasn't a neck much bigger than a wrist? Why could this fit so well? "You can't—and I mean _never_—take this off. Not even to shower. It's waterproof."

"Okay, I can do that." Rick was now more touched than confused. She trusted him some something her hometown did. He felt ecstatic. Getting a spa-boiled egg couldn't make him feel happier.

"Please take good care of it." Brigget pleaded. Rick clasped her hands.

"Don't worry about it. I'll take great care of this. And thank you." He said. Brigget felt immediately relieved. She hugged him, lingering for a moment longer than she should have.

"Well," Rick stood. "I'd better be going. The Poultry Farm is going to open in a bit and I need to be there to help Mom." He waved goodbye and left.

-----

Popuri threw chicken feed about the ground, laughing as the hens fought each other for a piece. She set some aside that she was going to give to the sick hen in the isolation coop and sat to watch the chickens play.

Rick came up beside her. She took a look at him and laughed.

"You look like a tomato!" She squealed.

"Yeah, yeah, laugh it up." Rick glowered. He was still feeling lightheaded.

"What's wrong, Rick?" Popuri asked. "Did Brigget ask you out? Ooh! Rick and Brigget, sittin' in a tree. K-I-S-S—" Rick tackled his little sister and began tickling her.

"What was that?" Rick asked playfully, trying to talk over his sister's loud laughter.

A huge growl stopped them both in their tracks. A huge black dog—no, a wolf—jumped at their chickens. Rick jumped up, grabbed the pitchfork next to the coop and shot it at the wolf. It dodged it easily.

"I have no use for chickens, anyway." It said, trotting. Its coal black fur jumped up and down as it stepped. Its cold, green eyes stared at Rick as if they could cut through him. Rick started.

**The wolf was talking.**

The wolf must have sensed his awe.

"What? You've never seen a talking dog before?" It cackled. Its voice sounded female, perhaps his age. It turned its attention to Rick.

"I want to know something and you're going to tell me." It said. Rick shoved Popuri behind him and backed up to the fence.

"That depends on what it is and what we get for it." Rick insisted. The wolf laughed.

"You get your lives." It stated. "Now tell me: Where's Mika?"

-----

Brigget's ears perked. She sniffed the air. Fear panged through her. She dropped her hammer.

"What?" Kai asked. "What is it?" He stopped sawing and started at Brigget. She shook her head.

"Ribbon!" The dog jumped. "Come with me." She turned on Kai. "You, get a shotgun."

She took off running, her dog not far behind.

-----

"What?" Rick asked. "Who's Mika?" The wolf growled, jumping at Rick, knocking him and Popuri onto the fence. They sank to the ground. Rick still held in front of Popuri.

"Don't play games with me, boy. You know who I'm talking about. Now tell me: Where is Mika Sigil?" The dog barked loudly.

Sigil? That sounded familiar. Where had he heard that?

"I don't know who you're talking about." Rick stated. He looked behind the wolf. A crowd was gathering. Everyone was scared to move.

"Tell me or you and your precious little sister are dead." The wolf demanded.

"I don't know who Mika is!" Rick shouted. The wolf snorted.

"Fine. Goodbye to you." The wolf lunged.

In midair, another wolf collided into the first one, sending them both flying away from Rick. He sighed.

The two wolves stared at each other. The black, evil one seething with both anger and pleasure, the gray, newer wolf dazed from the hit.

"Hello, Tanya." The gray said to the black. Tanya howled happily.

"Hello, Mika."

-----

**It's only nine pages long, but I had to do it. Now it's really getting started.**

**For my next activity I'm co-writing a KOTOR fic with Nagi, so I'm not sure when I'll get the next chapter up. Please review!**


	5. Collar

"Hello, Mika." Tanya laughed. "I knew I'd get you to come out sooner or later. All I had to do was attack someone." Mika growled, pressing her ears down onto her head. She crouched low and lunged at Tanya.

Rick, horrified, kept Popuri behind him protectively. He stood up and knocked her into the house, slamming the door.

Mika threw Tanya to the ground, getting a whine to resound from the black wolf.

"Just like old times, eh, Mika?" Tanya asked shakily, standing. Mika snapped at the air in front of Tanya.

"It's me you want." She said, prancing around in front of the entrance of Poultry Farm. The townsfolk backed up. "So come and catch me."

Tanya jumped at Mika, who leapt backwards and sprinted off toward Wolf Stables. Tanya cried out in a fit of rage and bolted after her.

Rick stared at the scene, shocked. He realized where they were headed.

"Brigget." He whispered. He grabbed a pitchfork and ran after the two fighting dogs.

-----

"**What was that?" The man asked. He shook his head, marveling at his previous vision. "That was…. How am I supposed to take _this_?"**

**He remembered with a shiver that he'd seen the human at the meeting, rampaging through the town and taking collars everywhere. **

"**I have to do something; I have to warn _someone_!" A single person flashed through his head. The beautiful little blonde, the fiery green of her eyes, the smile on her face as he promised her that he'd be back to play with her. That was the most important person in his life. The one person who actually cared if he did more than prophesize. **

"**Mika," He whispered. He turned and bolted back to the house. Another vision hit him, flooring him harshly. When he finally stood up, he screamed.**

"**I don't want the boy!" He screamed into the air. "My son disowned me the moment something better waltzed through the door. What makes _anyone _think I can stomach to raise his son?"**

**The silence unnerved him. He growled loudly. "And what will become of Mika? She can't make heads or tails of the prophecy. If I'm not there to help her, she won't ever get it!"**

**A fierce wind blew through the area. Suddenly, Uviles knew what he must do. Tears streaming down his face, he rushed to his son's home, snatched his little grandson, and fled the land of the Wolvites.**

Saibara rubbed the side of his head. What an unnerving memory. He didn't want it. He pushed it to the back of his head. Besides, he had other things to think about. He still remembered the night before, when Kai had been in a betting contest with Brigget.

"_If I win, I get your collar!"_

When he'd said that, Saibara watched Brigget as her face paled severely and her eyes pulsed with rage. _That _was when the painful memory came back, and it had been haunting him since. Why should he be bothered by it? What if it was the new, hip thing to call chokers "collars"?

Still… he couldn't be too careful. What if—

A sudden bang broke him from his train of thought. Gray jumped for the door and flung it open. He paled.

"Well, what is it, boy?" Saibara barked.

"Two wolves are fighting in front of the Poultry Farm!" His eyes bulged. "Grandfather, they're talking." He gasped loudly and grabbed a nearby sickle. "And they're running for Wolf Stables!" Saibara took the hammer off of his counter that he was updating for Brigget and followed Gray out the door.

-----

Mika—AKA Brigget—ran through Wolf Stables, growling to herself.

"Where did Kai go?" She thought. "He should've been here by now and—"

_**BANG!**_

A large hole was blown deep into one of Brigget's crops. She growled.

"You mind not hitting my sales?" She shouted to Kai, who sat in a tree, staring at the two wolves raged around the farm. Kaiser, the foal on Wolf Stables, reared as Tanya bolted under her feet.

"Sorry, Sawyer!" Kai answered. "Thought I got her then." Brigget growled. She turned around and lunged at Tanya.

"You can't catch me, Ta-Ta." She taunted. Tanya howled.

"Don't call me that stupid name!" Tanya bit Brigget on the shoulder. Brigget screeched.

-----

By now Gray, Saibara, Rick, and the other townsfolk arrived at Wolf Stables. Rick stopped at the head of the growing mob.

"Brigget!" He shouted. Brigget didn't turn up. "Brigget, where are you?" He was worried. She wasn't anywhere. About this time she should be updating her chicken coop with Kai but…. But….

Where was Kai?

"Hey, Chicken Boy, move over!" Kai shouted from the tree. He shot at Tanya, missing by inches. Dirt sprang into the air, and everyone covered their eyes. "Dang, I almost had the little wench!" Kai swore.

Rick watched in horror as the two wolves sprang all over the farm, snatching little bites at each other wherever they got the chance. Blood and tufts of fur mixed into the ground. Rick shook his head.

"Brigget!" He shouted again.

"Stop your shouting, boy." Saibara hit Rick in the back of the head. "She won't reply."

"Why? Where is she?" Rick frantically asked. "She can't just _not _know that she's got wolves ravaging through her farm! They could go after her."

"Those aren't wolves." Saibara closed his eyes, trying to hold back tears.

"Huh? Grandpa…." Gray said. Rick, enraged, grabbed Saibara by the collar.

"What are you talking about?" He screamed. "They're not dogs, and they sure as _hell _aren't human. And you're telling me that they're not after Brigget?"

"They're _after _each other!" Saibara shouted back. "Those aren't wolves; but neither are they human. What we're staring at, Rick, are Wolvites."

-----

Brigget stopped as she heard what Saibara said. She'd had Tanya pinned on her back and was attempting to take more fur off of her stomach when she overheard Saibara.

"What we're staring at, Rick, are Wolvites."

Her muscles tensed. She looked up from Tanya, staring at Saibara head on. Saibara stared back.

"I'm right, aren't I?" He asked her.

"What?" The Doctor asked, pushing through the crowd. "You can't be serious. They don't fight each other."

"We don't?" Tanya asked. "We do if one of us isn't with the others."

"That's right." Brigget growled. "Everyone has to belong to the Big Bad Boss Man or he'll make you kill each other. Like this, if I'm not wrong. He ordered you to do this, didn't he, Ta-ta?"

Tanya ripped at Brigget's throat, kicking her backwards. Brigget's throat gouged out horribly and she whined loudly.

Behind her, she heard someone give a shriek of horror. Saibara threw his hammer in the air and ran toward Tanya. She smiled ruefully.

"Oh, what's this?" She asked, jumping backward and easily avoiding the hammer. "Some affectionate old grampa?"

Brigget struggled to stand. She found it harder to breathe. She didn't think that Tanya had hit her jugular…. But she'd been in a good position to. So she hadn't killed her on purpose. Tanya wanted something from her.

"Stay away from her, Tanya!" Saibara cried, swinging his hammer again. Tanya laughed, knocking the man over.

"You're not in much of a position to stop me, old man." She grinned toothily. "Good-bye." She made a move for his throat.

Brigget knew what was happening. She saw Tanya lean over the blacksmith. She saw Tanya reach her head down to the man's neck. She knew what was going to happen if she didn't do anything. To be truthful, she actually didn't _know _she was doing anything. She didn't know she could find the strength to get up suddenly and tackle Tanya in midair. She cried out in pain as Tanya's teeth lodged themselves into her right foreleg. She barked painfully, turning over as she hit the ground. She struggled to her feet.

"I get it now." Brigget coughed to Tanya. "Why you didn't bite to kill when you had the chance. I understand." She laughed meekly. "You just want my collar." Tanya barked out a hearty chuckle.

"The Boss needs the Twins that Bring. You and Mira are twins. Sigils bring food. He has Mira. He wants you!" Tanya lunged at Brigget once more. Brigget rolled out of the way. "It did take me a while to figure things out, though. I thought I'd never find you. It was pretty hard though, with you changing your name which ever place you went."

"What?" Rick said. Tanya looked at him, smiling gleefully.

"Oh, that's right. These _people _don't know, do they?"

"Tanya, don't." Brigget pleaded.

"But they don't know about you." Tanya had a false look of sympathy on her face.

"Please, don't do it—"

"Are you afraid I'll ruin your reputation?"

"No, I'm afraid you'll say the one thing I don't want you to say."

"Why, _Brigget_, would I say that?"

Rick dropped his pitchfork.

"Brigget? Is that you?" He stepped toward the gray dog, now with matted fur and blood dripping from her throat. "Are you Brigget?" He took another step.

Brigget bolted down to the bridge on the other side of the farm.

"I'm over here, Tanya." She called. "And my collar goes where I go." She took off running. Tanya followed.

So did the mob.

-----

Brigget ran. Each step seemed as if someone stabbed a million knives into her back. She was in constant pain. She ran to the mountain top and turned to face Tanya when the wolf caught up with her.

Behind Tanya, the townsfolk came, each with weapons.

Tanya sprang on top of Brigget, and the two brawled, snarls emitting from both of them. Tanya finally flipped Brigget onto her back, right at the edge of the cliff. Tanya smirked, jumping into the air.

The next events made Rick's heart stop. Brigget's eyes widened as she saw what was about to happen. She pushed her hind legs in the air and vaulted Tanya above her, over the cliff. Letting out a whine, Tanya clipped Brigget's fur with her teeth, toppling Brigget over the edge as well.

"Brigget!" Rick screamed, dashing forward. He fell to his knees at the end of the cliff. "Brigget! Brigget!"

No reply. Several people sank to their knees. The Mayor sniffed, letting his hold in his slingshot loosen. Gray enfolded his grandfather in a tight hold, bewildered by his grandfather's sudden despair. Popuri buried her face into Kai's shirt. Kai's eyes erupted in tears.

A hand reached over the side of the cliff. A slightly gloved hand, where the green glove stopped at the middle knuckle of the fingers. The palm of the glove was ripped—by a claw, it seemed—and the skin underneath it was bleeding. Rick stared at the hand as it grabbed the edge and pulled up. Brigget—in human form—pulled herself up to the mountain, until her arms were propped neatly on the side. Her eyes were squinted and the groaned every time she took in a breath.

"Brigget!" Rick let out a sigh, leaning over to help her up. Brigget gasped, holding up a bloody hand.

"No!" She yelled. "Don't—don't come here. She's… she's coming!" Just at that time, Brigget was lifted up into the air by a woman Rick had never seen before.

The woman laughed, tugging on Brigget's collar. She had both hands around the thing and was _flying _over the mountain. The raven-haired woman had wings. Brigget screamed, choking as her esophagus closed off from the flying woman's tugging.

"Give me your collar!" The voice sounded just like Tanya's.

"Tanya—" Brigget rasped. "Stop…. Y-you're hurting me…."

And for a moment, a glint of horror shot through Tanya. She gasped, jerking around, as if fighting herself. She screamed.

"Shut up!" She yanked Brigget's collar around, slinging Brigget around in the air. Brigget whined.

"Leave her alone!" The Mayor down below screeched. The townsfolk began agreeing with him.

"Put her down!"

"Stop her!"

"Get her away from Brigget!"

Brigget coughed, staring down at the people. They were trying to defend her. She saw Cliff reach down and pick up a large rock. He heaved it at Tanya.

"No!" Brigget shouted. She pulled her arms up and caught the rock on her wrist. The rock broke into pieces and Brigget's arm erupted in more blood.

Tanya stayed shocked only for a moment. Her beady green eyes laughed loudly as she found the buckle on Brigget's collar and undid it, not bothering to catch Brigget as she fell.

Brigget screamed, seeing she had about twenty feet to fall. Without thinking, she transformed into a wolf as she hit the ground. She bounced upward, flipped over, and sprawled onto the ground, in full human form.

"Oops, I forgot to catch you!" Tanya cackled. "Poor you." She giggled. Brigget tried to get up. Her hands kept wavering between hands and paws. "And judging by the way you have no control over your transformation, I'd say that you're in serious pain. See you in a bit, Mika!"

Tanya flew away.

A crowd formed around Brigget as she struggled to sit up. The Doctor pushed through and knelt at her side.

"Where are you hurt?" He asked. Brigget ignored him.

"_Great." _She thought. _"Just great! I'm here a week and now Ribbon and I are going to have to leave." _She tried to stand. Feeling a large stabbing pain shoot across her thigh, she immediately stopped.

"Tell me where you're hurt." The Doctor ordered.

"I'm fine." She told him, trying to stand. She grunted, doubling over and covering her stomach.

"Obviously not. I can see some things wrong with you plainly, but I can't treat anything until I know everything that's wrong." He insisted. Kai interrupted.

"Sawyer, go after her! She's got…she's got…"

"She's got nothing of importance." Brigget spat. Kai cocked an eyebrow, thinking, but quickly smirked.

"Oh, Brigget, you _have _been clever." He said.

"Tell me _now _where you're hurt." The Doctor tried again.

"She doesn't have to tell you where she's hurt." Kai stated. The Doctor shot up to him, death in his eyes.

"So I'm supposed to sit there and let her die?" He shouted. Kai shook his head.

"No, I'm saying she doesn't have to tell _you_…."

"Kai, don't." Brigget lurched from her spot, squeaking in pain.

"But I'll bet she has to tell Rick." Kai finished, glancing at Rick. The poultry farmer paled, his eyes widening. "Isn't that right, Sawyer?"

Rick's focus instantly moved to Brigget, as did the rest of the town's. Brigget's eyes flashed rage, but her doubled fists and deep, red complexion told everyone that Kai had hit the nail.

"Rick?" Popuri asked. "Why would she have to tell _him _anything?" Rick knelt beside Brigget.

"Is this true?" He asked her. She turned a shade of green, as if trying to stop something. Finally she nodded.

"I knew it." Kai grinned. Brigget growled at him, her eyes changing from emerald green to a dark yellow. Rick's bowls turned over. It was the freakiest thing he'd ever seen.

"Kai," Brigget rasped, her nose growing longer and furrier for a moment and switching back. "Come h-here so I-I can k-kill you."

"Nope. Business first." Kai said. He turned to Rick. "Order her to tell you exactly what's wrong." Rick stared at him in disbelief. "She will have to tell you what's wrong."

"But why me?" Rick asked. "What do _I _have to do with this?"

"I bet I know why." Saibara knelt beside Brigget and held her up. His voice turned into a whisper. "She gave you something recently, didn't she? A… bracelet, perhaps?"

Brigget went ballistic. She crawled away from Saibara and Rick.

"Who _are _you?" She asked. "First you figure out I'm a Wolvite, and then suddenly you know where I put my belongings? What are you, the Detective of Knowing Things Better Left Alone?"

Saibara stared in shock. "Mika," He said. "I'm—" Brigget growled, flashing her teeth, which quickly morphed into sharp, viscous fangs and reappeared as regular teeth.

"If you don't mind me interrupting the 'focus group'," The Doctor said. "I would like to point out the huge, gaping hole on Brigget's throat, so I would very much appreciate it if we could get her healed before anything unnecessary is said."

"So Rick needs to tell Sawyer to tell you what's wrong with her." Kai stressed. Rick rolled his eyes.

"Fine." He turned to Brigget, whose gaze now turned to rage once more. "Brigget, tell us what's wrong with you. Everything."

Brigget turned green again, biting the bottom of her lip. She squeezed her eyes shut and held her breath. The world seemed to turn upside down, and she felt if she didn't have her fingers buried in the dirt she would fall through the sky. Her stomach twisted itself into impossible knots.

"You made me make her worse!" Rick stood, ready to punch Kai. Kai held up a hand.

"No, no, she's just trying to resist." He insisted. They turned back to Brigget.

Her body felt like it was being pulled toward Rick. She didn't want to go. She didn't want to tell him what was wrong.

Finally, she opened her mouth and spoke.

"When… when Tanya bit my neck, she didn't hit the jugular, or I wouldn't be here. This wound isn't that deep. But there's a bite mark on my right thigh, I have a big hole in my left foot, I think I bit all the way through my tongue once, my stomach's all torn up from the fall down the cliff, and I think my wrist is broken." She sneered painfully at everyone before turning to Saibara. "I suppose since you know so much about Wolvites I won't have to explain that my _backpack _is seriously hurting right now." She seethed. The sickness subsided, the world straightened itself, and her stomach was now fully-functional. Saibara raised an eyebrow at her statement.

"Why didn't you use it?" He asked. She sputtered.

"Please. I'm not that stupid. I have—" She stopped, a pang of guilt and irony running through her veins. She heard the faint sound of glass breaking, her Ba picking her up and shaking her, and his scream as she bit him and ran.

On that note, she passed out.

-----

**I am a genius! I figured Saibara doesn't have a very big part in any of the Harvest Moon games, unfortunately, and he has to have _some _reason for not liking Gray that much. So I made one! Anyone guess what it is? Lol. He'll explain it in the next chapter. Oh! And did anyone figure the poem out? I'm curious to see who got what from it. Please review, you guys!**


	6. Talk

"**Mika, you've got to fly. Now!"**

**Mika had a choice. Stay and die at the hands of this Big Bad Boss Man, or jump off the cliff behind her.**

**She jumped.**

**When Mika jumped off of the cliff, two things flashed through her head at once. The first was that there were rocks at the bottom of the cliff and they would surely kill her when she hit them. The second was this:**

"**What if I can open my wings?"**

**Why shouldn't she be able to open them? Every Wolvite had wings; it just took around five years for them to start to take a real form. When they were dormant, the wings lay on the person's back in a form chosen by the owner. Mika had grown fond of the backpack form, which allowed her to store anything in the backpack, no matter how big or how alive it was. It would be pulled out when she needed it, and it would be as if it were in there for only a second. **

"**_Okay,"_ Mika thought. _"I can use the backpack, but I need to fly!"_**

"**_Fly…."_**

"**FLY!" Mika screamed, squinting her eyes shut. Her ears started ringing. Her small, green backpack began to burn her immensely. She could feel it dissipating into the air. Two large, white wings formed at Mika's back. She had done it. She could fly to safety.**

**Mika swept away from the rocks in the nick of time. She began to fly across the sea. She could hear the Big Bad Boss Man behind her, shouting in rage.**

**Then something went wrong. A large _CRACK _resounded from Mika's wings, and she faltered. She dipped dangerously close to the water. She shrieked in pain. Blood ran through the bases of the wings, where feathers met skin. Every time she flapped her wings, she couldn't proportionate their movements. Her wings made jerky, reckless flails, causing her to spin in circles more than head straight.**

"**_Ah, the irony." _She thought icily.**

"**COME BACK HERE!" Shouted the Big Bad Boss Man. He picked up a huge boulder and chunked it at Mika. She panicked, trying to get out of the way. He had aimed it for her chest. It broke mercilessly onto her right wing.**

**Mika's eyes were blinded by a white light as red-hot pain shot through her wing and down to herself. She couldn't even muster the will to scream. She stared at the wing, which was now crumpled and bleeding from many places, and tried desperately to make her way to land.**

**Apparently, this was not what the Big Bad Boss Man wanted to happen. He shrieked in rage, kicking miscellaneous things off of the cliff.**

"**FIND HER, ALL OF YOU!" He ordered. Mika looked back, instantly wishing she hadn't.**

**At least twenty-five Wolvites were in a hot pursuit of her. They came pelting at her, wings in full-stock and healthy. Mika gave up, going limp and falling into the water. All went black.**

**-----**

**Mika woke up on a sort of beach, soaking wet and in pain. She groaned, pushing herself up off of the ground. Why was her back hurting her so much?**

**In a huge wave, everything came back to her. She turned to find her wings had become dormant once more, and her green backpack sat gratefully on her shoulders. On one of the pockets, however, there sat a tear in her backpack. A red aura pulsed around it, and when she touched it, it burned.**

"**That must be where the rock hit me." She inferred.**

**Along the beach, something barked. Mika jumped, sidling backward. A small puppy bounded up to her.**

"**S-stay away!" Mika stuttered. She reached into her backpack and pulled out a dagger. "Please, don't come any closer." The small puppy cocked its head, hiking its long, cute brown ears into the air. She sat where she was and began panting, as if patiently waiting for Mika to finish what she was doing.**

**Slowly, Mika put the knife down. The puppy walked up to her and began to sniff her.**

"**I wouldn't stick around me, dog." She told it. "I tend to bring people bad luck. Who _knows _what it could do to you." She said, scratching its ears. The puppy licked her, barking happily. Mika sighed, as if exasperated.**

"**Well, why _won't_ you leave?" She asked it. It barked again. Mika shrugged. "Okay, your loss. I guess I should name you. How about…. Ribbon?" The dog barked, now ecstatic. Mika smiled. "Well, at least I have one friend."**

"'**Ello there," The new voice surprised Mika. She jerked, staring up at the man. **

**He was something else. He had on a long sleeved, light yellow shirt, which was strange since it was summer. He must have been working hard, also, because there was sweat dribbling from his gray bandana onto his face. His arms were crossed and his mouth was set in a hard stare. He had sunglasses over his eyes.**

"**H-Hello," Mika sputtered.**

"**Great mornin' fer a swim, ain' it?" He said, sitting next to Mika.**

"**I—uh, I guess…." Mika shrugged, sighing.**

"**But it's only eight in da mornin'. Now, why would a young girl such as yerself wanta be out 'ere so early? Shoreline Town's beach ain' _dat_ fantastic, an' I come down 'ere ev'ry mornin'."**

"**Well, I—" Mika stopped, hearing footsteps coming. She listened to their conversation.**

"_**After she fell into the water, we haven't been able to find her, my Lord."**_

"**_Then you keep searching until you do, you got that, Witka? Bring me that stupid brat, or it will be your _other daughter's _head on the line."_**

"_**Uh! I will do it now, Milord."**_

**Mika froze. She knew those voices. One was her Ba, the other was the Big Bad Boss Man. She whimpered, scooting backwards.**

"**Wha's wrong?" The man asked, raising an eyebrow. Mika ignored him. Footsteps were coming this way.**

**Without thinking, Mika dove behind the beach into a patch of trees.**

"'**Ey—" The man stood, mortified. Mika put a finger to her lips and shushed him. About then, Witka came into the beach, with his head held high.**

**Mika stared at him. The Big Bad Boss Man had been taking collars off of other Wolvites. He'd probably had a whole armful of them strapped around his bulgy arms under that armor. So why was Witka still wearing his? Mika gasped.**

"**_Ba is probably working for the Big Bad Boss Man!" _She realized, horrorstruck. **

"**Excuse me," Witka said to the man Mika had just been talking to. "Have you seen a little girl around here? She's about this tall, has blonde hair, a turquoise collar around her neck, and she's probably soaking wet."**

**The man's eyes widened. He glanced quickly from Witka's tall, lanky, intimidating posture to the place where Mika had thrown herself.**

**Mika had occupied herself with getting higher and higher into the tree. It was tough, since she had her puppy in one hand and was constantly watching Witka.**

"**Uhh…. No, I haven't." The man lied, shrugging. "Why are you looking for her? I haven't seen any Lost Posters around."**

"**She's my daughter," Witka retaliated. "And she disappeared in the middle of the night. Went for a late night swim, I'm afraid. I thought she might still be down here."**

"**No, I haven't seen anyone like that." The man said. "And I usually spend all my mornings down here."**

"**Yes, well," Witka ran a hand through his greasy hair. "If you see her, tell her to come on home. We miss her terribly." He handed a slip of paper into the man's hands. "And when you find her, would you give her this for me?"**

**The man stared at the strange markings on the paper. He couldn't make heads or tails of it. He shrugged. "Yes, I will," He replied. Witka left.**

**The man at first acted as if he really _hadn't _seen Mika. He stretched his arms behind his head, punched the air a few times, strolled around the beach. After about ten minutes, he finally stopped and talked.**

"**If yer ever goin'a come out, I'll tell ya dat 'e's gone." The man said. Mika crawled out of her hiding spot. The man handed her the paper Witka handed him. "I s'pose yer da one 'oo can make 'eads or tails o' dis paper." Mika took the paper and read it. She gasped.**

"**WE'RE COMING FOR YOU."**

**Mika dropped the paper, backing up.**

"**Oh, so ya did understand it. Good. Now yer can tell me whaddit means." Mika shook her head.**

"**You don't want to know, sir."**

"**Sure I do." He sat down, beckoning her to do the same. She did. "I'll bet it says somethin' bad. I'll bet it says dat da people 'oo sent dat to ya are comin' to get ya." Mika nodded shamefully.**

"**They are, sir."**

"**And I'm not one ta pry into people's pasts. 'Specially little four year ol's." He started. "But I ain' one ta let a littl' girl such as yerself go on alone." He stood, striking a funny pose resembling a macho model. He held a hand to Mika. "Littl' girl, I run a dojo. Dat's where people learn 'ow ta fight."**

"**And you plan to teach me?" Mika finished. "All I need to fight with are my teeth."**

"**Yes, but _dogs _fight wit' their teeth." The man said. Mika giggled at his good guessing. "I can teach ya 'ow ta win. 'And ta 'and. Sword ta sword. Man ta man. Err…. _Wo_man." Mika took his hand.**

"**All right," She agreed. "It can't be so bad."**

"**My name's Tupper. But you shall call me…. Squigi." He said, grinning. Sun glared off of his teeth.**

"**Squigi?" Mika repeated.**

"**Yeah, it's like Squeegee with 'I's instead of 'ee's." Squigi said. "Just thought of it meself. Thought it very smart o' me." Mika burst out laughing. "And you, my little dojo-ette? What shall I call you?"**

**Mika stopped short. He was staring at her, a knowing smirk on his face. He had said "what shall I call you?" as in, what did she want to be called. He was giving her a choice not to use her real name.**

"**Uhh…." She thought for a second. "Just call me…. Kiddo."**

**-----**

"….et…."

What was that? Brigget ignored the sound of conscious life and tried to continue in her flashback. It had left her.

"….gget….!"

What were they calling, anyway? She didn't know anyone by that name. Would they shut _up _calling that name?!

"Brigget!"

In a flash, Brigget came-to. Her eyes shot open and her body heaved her forward. She felt a pair of hands push her gently back down.

"Glad to see you're among the living now." Said the Doctor. She stared at him, trying to remember how he was. She knew him from somewhere…. Didn't he live in that town she lived in?

Reality hit her like a slap in the face. She remembered who she was, what she was doing in the hospital, and who everyone else was.

"What are you doing?" She asked the Doctor.

"Don't worry; I've already fixed everything wrong with you." The Doctor smiled. "This is just to drink. Drink it and your strength replenishes." Brigget raised a skeptic eyebrow as the Doctor brought the concoction over to her. "Just try not to taste it." Mika slowly sipped at the beverage.

"Ugh," She set the now empty cup down mirthlessly. "That tasted like a dead raccoon that died of heat exhaustion."

"Don't tell me how you know what that tastes like." The Doctor insisted. He checked her temperature. "You seem fine, now."

"How long have I been out?" Brigget asked, attempting to stand. The Doctor set her back down and buried her in covers.

"We carried you to this facility at about nine fifteen in the morning." The Doctor hesitated.

"This morning?"

"Uhh…. Three days ago."

"What?" Brigget shot out of bed. The Doctor struggled to set her back down.

"Will you at least wait until Eli can come and check you out?" He asked.

"Wait?" She replied. "_Wait_? I've been _asleep _for three days! What about my chickens? What about my _colt_? What about my _unfinished chicken coop?_"

"Those…. Are…. Problems we will tend to in time." The Doctor said. "Right now you need rest. And rest you will get; even if I have to tie you to the bed."

Brigget sighed dejectedly, sitting back and looking at her surroundings. She was lying on a bed behind a white curtain, blocking her from the rest of the world. She watched the Doctor leave behind the curtain and heard him scribbling on paper.

Brigget heard the door open and a voice call out in a whisper.

"I'm back, Doctor." It was Eli. She stepped into the office closed the door. Brigget heard the padding of four sets of feet behind her.

"You don't have to be quiet, Brigget's awake." The Doctor said.

"What?" Two more voices sounded. "How long has she been up?"

"A few minutes. I gave her some tonic, but I need Eli to look in on her and make sure everything's okay." He paused. "And given _your _explanation, I think you should join her."

"But—" Brigget now recognized one of the other voices as Rick.

"No _buts_, Rick." The Doctor said. "You can visit her once the examination is over." Brigget heard Rick moan in disgust.

Eli pulled back the curtain as she and Saibara came through to meet Brigget. Brigget smiled at Eli.

"Hello." She said.

"Good afternoon, Brigget." Eli said.

"Oh, it's afternoon, is it?" Brigget crossed her arms.

"Yes, it's one-thirty." Eli answered. "Now, I just need to check you up."

"Check me up? How does one go about doing that?" Brigget asked.

"I just need to see if your throat is alright, if your wrist is setting properly, and the antibiotics we gave you are fighting any infection you may have had." Eli answered, pulling a stethoscope from one of her apron pockets. "Now I need you to breathe deeply." She instructed. Brigget did so.

"So why is the blacksmith here?" Brigget asked, not staring directly at him.

"Well, we figured you had some questions and he had answers." Eli said feebly.

"Uh-huh. And I'm a cat." Brigget shuddered. Cats were annoying.

"Well," Eli shrugged. "We also had questions, and we thought it would be best if—"

"—If he asked them to me." Brigget finished. Eli nodded.

"Yes." She said warily. "Now, if you'll just hold you chin up…." Eli raised Brigget's face, checking on the remains of her throat wound. "Looks good; it's only a little red." Brigget felt her neck. The skin had grown back completely, but it was sore when she pressed it. "Now for your wrist…."

Eli rubbed gently on Brigget's wrist, in silent wonder.

"No way," She muttered. "It's completely healed itself!" Brigget waggled her wrist up and down painlessly.

"I've always been a quick healer." She said. Eli shrugged.

"At any rate, I suppose your check-up is done. Doctor Trent said that he wanted to keep you here for another night, so I'll go and make you some food." She bowed her head to Saibara and left.

Brigget brought her knees up to her chest and wrapped her arms around them. She laid her head on her knee caps and stared at the curtain.

"Why don't you tell me exactly how much you know?" She suggested to Saibara.

"I know a lot, trust me." Saibara said.

"Well, I _don't _trust you, so why don't you let me know exactly how you know about my collar being—what it is." Brigget spat. "And I won't take some stupid answer like 'I looked it up' because _I've _looked it up and it's absolutely _nowhere_."

Saibara opened his mouth as if to speak, but then closed it. Brigget stared intently at him, sniffing the air.

"You know what," she said. "Never mind that. You smell familiar. Where've I seen you before?"

Saibara now beamed. He put his arms behind his head, as if stretching them.

"**We still haven't had that cookout yet, Mika."**

Brigget stopped short, now wide-eyed. She knew that language. It was the Wolvite language. He _knew _how to speak Wolve! But how could he know? It was impossible, it was incomprehensible, it was illogical, it was….

It was….

Brigget finally translated what he'd said. _Cookout? _She thought. _What cookout? I haven't had a cookout since…._

"**No way.…"** Brigget said, watching as Saibara reached the side of her bed. She was surprised of the accent in her own voice as she spoke Wolve. **"Uviles?"**

Saibara didn't have time to answer. Brigget wrapped her arms around him and burst into tears.

"**Uviles!"** She said. **"Why didn't you tell me? Better yet, how are you _here_? You're not one of _them_, are you? Where's your collar?"**

"**No, I'm not one of them."** Saibara answered, pushing Brigget away from her. **"I've been here for seventeen years, waiting for you to come, Mika."**

"**But, _why_?"** Brigget asked. **"Why were you waiting for _me_?"**

"**The prophecy, Mika. The prophecy!"** Saibara was now ecstatic. He sat on the edge of Brigget's bed.

"**What? _That _old thing?"** Brigget asked. Saibara nodded.

"**Yes!"** Brigget reached into one of her overall pockets and pulled out a folded piece of paper. She handed it to Saibara. He unfolded it.

"**I still have that."** She said. It was the prophecy he'd written down for her, seventeen years old and frail. **"I haven't ever made sense of it."**

Saibara shook his head in disbelief. **"That's… it can't…. There's no way…." **

"**There's no way what?"**

"**Mika, look up and down the left side of the poem."** Saibara turned it to her and ran his finger down the side. She squinted, staring at the page. The first letter in every line….

**M-I-N-E-R-A-L-T-O-W-N-W-I-L-L-S-A-V-E-U-S-A-L-L.**

Brigget cocked an eyebrow. "What?" She asked. "I—I don't…." She gasped, spacing the letters out.

**MINERAL TOWN WILL SAVE US ALL**

"**Impossible!" **Brigget rasped. **"There's no way you could have—"**

"**I know it's way beyond what I've usually done, but it's true." **Saibara answered. **"I can usually see only to a few days future, but I was twenty one _years _premature on this one."**

Brigget paused, thinking of another question.

"**What about Gray? What does this make him?" **She asked. Saibara scowled.

"**When… when I left for the meeting with the human, I had a vision of what he would do that day. I was trying to get back to you to get you out of the territory, but… things changed. Instead I ran to my son's house, broke in and took my grandson."**

"**Gray."**

"**Yes."**

"**So, he's a Wolvite?" **Brigget asked.

"**Yes, but he doesn't realize it." **He sighed. **"I've mistreated him. I've been so rough on him. I've been trying to burry his Wolve heritage, but I haven't been able, and as a result I've been taking my anger at myself out on him." **His eyes brightened. **"But you can change all of that!"**

"**I can _what?_" **Brigget asked.

"**I am too old to do anything about it, but _you _can teach him; _you _can show him how to use his Wolve powers!"**

"**Uviles, no…." **Brigget shook her head, suddenly down.

"**Yes! He will obviously be a help, he just needs a little fine-tuning. And he likes you! _Everyone _here likes you! Mika, they want you to stay with them!" **Brigget opened her mouth and shut it quickly. She kept her gaze down.

"**Uviles…."**

"**You'll have to show him how to control transformations, of course, but you've had time to figure that out, I'm sure."**

"**Uviles…."**

"**He's too old to learn to read, write, and speak Wolve, so we can save ourselves trouble and just skip that…. He's not too good with languages anyway."**

"**Uviles!"** Saibara stopped talking. He stared at Brigget.

"**I…." **She gulped. **"I'm not staying."**

"**You're… what?"**

"**I can't stay."**

"**But—the townsfolk…. The prophecy…." **Saibara was speechless.

"**The townsfolk are the greatest, and you know I would never doubt what you say for a second." **Brigget insisted. **"But…. These are peaceful people, Uviles. They aren't involved in the civil war raging inside the Wolvites. They were terrified when Tanya came and attacked me. If I stay here, others will come. I _can't _put these people in danger."**

Saibara bowed his head, as if in deep thought. Brigget felt so guilty. The last thing she wanted to do was leave all of these people, but it was what she felt she had to do.

"Do what you have to do, Brigget." Saibara said, now in English. She nodded.

"So, what do I call you now?" She asked. Saibara turned to leave.

"Oh, 'Saibara' will do just fine." Saibara nodded. "I'll be back tomorrow," He left.

-----

Rick saw Saibara walk briskly into the little room the Doctor had sanctioned off for Brigget and he promptly sat down. Ribbon, Brigget's dog, jumped up on his lap and lay down, licking his hand softly.

Rick was angry. He'd been angry for three days and now he could finally get answers. He rubbed a few fingers across the turquoise band across his wrist. _This _was the cause of all the trouble, he was certain. And now, Brigget was going to tell him _why _it was so valuable.

After what seemed like hours, but was actually a few minutes, Saibara came out of Brigget's room, looking a bit alarmed. He stared at Rick for a moment and turned away.

"She'll see you now." He said darkly. He turned the front doorknob and left.

-----

Ribbon jumped up onto Brigget's bed and Brigget enfolded her dog in a tight hug.

"There you are. I've been wondering where you've been." She said, rubbing her dog's ears. She heard the curtain rustle and looked up. Rick stood in front of her, his face set in stone. She looked away from him, kissing her puppy's nose.

"I was wondering when you would show up." She murmured.

"Oh, can you see the future, too?" Rick sneered. She shook her head.

"No, that's Saibara's forte." She looked up at him with sad eyes. "All I can do is shape shift and…. Other basic Wolve things."

"Seeing the future isn't part of the Wolvites?"

"Not traditionally." Brigget shook her head.

"Never mind that." Rick switched the subject. "I want you to answer some of my questions."

"Ask away." Brigget answered, petting Ribbon vigorously.

"How many names have you had?" He asked. Brigget chuckled.

"I have to remember _all_ of them?" She asked. "Let's see…. Of course there's Mika, then there was Kiddo, then… oh! Then it was Lucy, Yui, then Sawyer, and little old Brigget." She said, counting on her fingers.

"Why did you keep changing your name?" Rick inquired.

"Why does anyone do anything?" She asked, shrugging.

"Tell me the real answer, Brigget." He ordered. Brigget scowled.

"I'm a bloody coward, all right? If I stay in one spot for too long with the same name, Wolvites are going to catch on to me. Too late for that, I guess."

"Why are you on the run from them?" He asked. Brigget shook her head.

"That I'm not telling."

"Brigget." He said. "Tell me _why _you're on the run."

Damn. An order. Brigget bit her tongue. She turned green. The bed began tilting toward Rick. She grabbed onto the sides.

"W-Why—why should-d I?" She asked, straining to keep herself from obeying.

"Because you put the town in danger. Because you gave me _this_ and not a few hours later we were attacked for it." He motioned to the turquoise collar on his wrist. A fit of anger burst through Brigget.

"I never meant for that to happen!" She shouted. "I meant to give you the damn thing, get the farm fixed up and give it to Kai while I high-tailed it out of there."

Rick was at a loss. He stared at Brigget, who was leaning away from Rick and concentrating on staring at her feet.

"Y-You were planning to leave?" He stuttered.

"To protect everyone, Rick." She clarified, feeling if she leaned away from Rick any further she'd flip over the bed. The last order he gave her was still trying to get her to obey. Hopefully she could get him to forget about that order and tell her to do something else. "I knew one day they would come after me, and if they couldn't get the real collar then I was safe. Then _everyone _was safe. Get it?"

"No, I don't! How does making _you _safe make _everyone _safe?" He yelled.

"It just does!" She retaliated.

"I want you to tell me exactly what this collar is for and why everyone is so desperate to get their hands on yours. What _happened _to make your own kind turn against you?" He asked, jabbing a finger at the collar around his wrist.

Another order! The bed began sinking into the ground.

"I know you're trying to not answer. But apparently this thing you gave me means that I can order you around and you have to answer. Answer my questions!"

Yet another order. Brigget squinted her eyes shut.

"Why are you trying so hard not to tell me?" He asked. "Is it _that _bad?"

"It's… it's…." She took a deep breath. "When I was four years old a human came to our town. He started talking about upgrading our town and he planned a meeting with the adult Wolves. During the meeting he and my Ba started taking everyone's collars. They rampaged through the village, taking control of the whole area. Everyone was running."

"And Tanya?" Rick asked.

"Tanya was my best friend. We were at the prophet's house when the human began to attack and we made a break for the woods. We were cornered by our own friends and family who'd all ready had their collars taken. Tanya pushed me out of the way and told me to run."

Brigget felt fine. She toppled over sideways from leaning so hard.

"As far as I knew, I was the only one to make it out. But Saibara made it."

For a while, Rick sat silent. He was trying to find another question to ask.

"Why did you give your collar to me?" He asked, his voice hushed. Brigget turned red.

"What I said about the collar was the truth; it _is _tradition to give a collar to—to…." She stopped to choose her words.

"Just _tell _me." Rick growled.

"It's tradition to give your collar to someone you trust fully and completely. I like to hold to tradition." She answered.

"But _why _me? And what do these collars have to do with Wolvites?"

"Wolvites are bound to a specific pattern from birth. It's etched onto their right shoulder. The Ba of the infant is supposed to take that pattern and make a collar out of it made of beads made from family bones." Rick shuddered. "When the collar is placed onto the infant, it's bound to them permanently. And when you give the collar to the one you trust…."

"You have to do what ever they tell you." Rick finished. Brigget nodded.

"Why did Tanya say 'twins that bring'?" Rick asked. Brigget paled.

"That's nothing important. It's just a silly prophecy. Sigils are supposed to hunt for food and ration it out to the village. Sigil means 'to bring'. I'm also a twin. So you can see how everyone would confuse me with that prophecy."

"You're a twin?" Rick gawked.

"I haven't seen her in seventeen years. Her name is Mira Sigil. She's _so _much prettier than I am." Brigget stared off into space, obviously reminiscing.

"Do you have any other siblings?" Rick asked. Brigget snarled.

"Aside from my twin sister Mira, I have an older brother Mita. He never paid any attention to me; he was too busy building better things for people. I don't know what happened to him. I also have an older sister named Miwa. I don't even think she knew I was around most of the time." She sneered, rubbing the back of her head. "Are we done? I'm not very interested in keeping company anymore."

Rick shrugged and stood.

"I'll see you tomorrow." He said. He turned to leave. Brigget chuckled.

"Heh, we'll see about that."

Ribbon barked at her. Brigget wrote a note and gave it to Ribbon, who stuck it delicately into her mouth.

"I need you to go to Barley and May and give them this note. Make _sure _they come back with you. I'm giving May a chicken and I'm giving Kaiser back to Barley." She rubbed her dog's ears. "We're heading off again."

-----

**I know it's a bad place to stop. But I bet I say that all the time so it's probably lost all meaning by now. Next chapter gets better, and a little limey, so if you don't like RickXPlayer romance then I suggest you skip the next chapter. Who am I kidding? Lol. Please review!**


	7. Stay

Rick threw the rest of the corn into the mill, using too much strength in the process. Most of the corn overshot the mill and landed straight into the chicken coop. The chickens attacked them mercilessly.

"Stop that!" He barked angrily. He stomped around the chickens and piled up what was left of the corn into his arms.

Rick nearly jumped out of his skin at the rustling sound behind him. He turned. Popuri stood, her arms crossed, against the mill.

"The chickens don't understand that you're mad at Brigget, Rick." She sneered.

"Yeah, well, for all we know, they could." He growled. He chunked the remaining corn carefully into the mill and picked up the broom next to it, determined to finish his work.

"Mom said we don't have to work today." Popuri pointed out.

"I don't care. I'm working anyway." He snapped, not turning to regard her.

"There's a reason why you can't get her out of your head, Rick." Popuri insisted. He rolled his eyes, scoffing. "I won't say it, but you should know what it is."

"Oh, come _off _it!" Rick threw the broom across their property, making Popuri jump. He glared daggers at her. "I don't. I don't—_don't—_like her. Not in the slightest. Not even a bit. Not at _all_. I don't, I don't, I _don't!_" He stamped his foot into the ground, grinding stray corn kernels into the dirt.

"Your temper tells me otherwise." Popuri smirked knowingly. "I think you're mad at her because she didn't tell you about herself."

"She could have—_should have_—told me about her 'heritage'. She should have come right out and—"

"And _what_, Rick? What would you honestly have done? What if Brigget had come up to you when you first met her and said, 'hey, sorry to bother you, but I'm a Wolvite and I'd love a place to stay for the night. Do you people have an inn? Don't worry about yourselves, no one will come and attack you because I live here now.'" Popuri threw her arms in the air. "What honestly would you have done? _Everyone _knows you would have laughed your head off like it was some _joke_! This isn't a joke to her, Rick. And it's not one to us anymore."

"She gave me her bargaining chip without telling me it—" Rick was interrupted again by an angry sister.

"Do you know how hard it is for a girl to give a guy something? Especially something of _value_? Even for regular humans, we have trouble getting through it. But that _thing _controls her every move. Rick, _if you told her to stay, she'd stay_. If you told her to run in circles, she'd have to until you tell her otherwise. You don't realize how terrifying that must have been to give that up. What if she had misjudged you, and you were just as power-hungry as the one who nearly took over the Wolvites? She'd be in deep trouble."

"Yeah, it's always about her." Rick snarled. Popuri slapped him.

Shock rushed through Rick's veins, followed closely by anger. His eyes widened as he stared at his sister, who had a set look on her face.

"If it was all about her, she'd have gone screaming from her farm the moment she figured out Tanya was attacking someone, trying to find her. If it was all about her, she wouldn't have fought down her old best friend to get her away from the town." His sister's temper was rising, and she was at the shouting point now. "If it was all about her, she would have taken our invitation and she wouldn't be—" Popuri stopped herself. Rick raised an eyebrow.

"Wouldn't be what?" He asked.

"Nothing." Popuri's temper receded. "It's nothing." She turned to go back into their home. At the entrance she stopped and turned back to her brother. "I'll just say one thing, and then I'm putting my walking shoes on and I'm going to Eli's. Here it is: Just because you think Brigget's doing something, doesn't mean she isn't doing something else."

With that, Popuri left Rick outside.

What was _that _about? That last part had _nothing _to do with their previous conversation. Thoroughly confused, Rick shrugged and headed toward the house.

-----

"And.… here is Kaiser."

"You keep him."

"What? But he's yours."

"He's _yours._ Look at the little boy. He's happy as a bug in a rug."

"Are you sure?"

"He may be small now, but you've got a long way to go if you actually plan on doing this. You'll need an extra pair of legs when the going gets tough."

"Well, thanks, Barley."

"Anytime."

"Anyway, here's Sigil, and the egg she made this morning."

"Keep the egg. I'll go get May."

"Yes, Grandpa?"

"Remember what we talked about?"

"With Top-Hat Thomas? 'Course I 'member!"

"Well, Brigget wants to give you her chicken."

"Really?"

"Of course I do! You're a bright little girl, and my chicken needs special care. Can I count on you to give it?"

"Yes, ma'am!"

"Then here you go. Her name is Sigil. She lays eggs once a day and likes to be outside."

"Even in winter?"

"Even in winter."

"How cool!"

"Thank you, Brigget."

"Anytime."

"Is there anything I can do?"

"Actually, yes."

"What?"

"Don't tell Rick."

Pause.

"You mean he doesn't know?"

"Afraid not."

"Why doesn't he?"

"He'll try to stop me. It'll be best if I can get out without him knowing."

"You're going to make him angrier."

"I'll make him safer."

"It's your judgment. I'll do nothing against it. Neither will May."

"Nope!"

"Thanks. I'll see you guys…."

-----

Mary sighed, closing her book as the library door opened and an angry Gray stomped in.

"What's wrong?" She asked. He growled.

"My grandpa is going nuts." He leaned against the door and sank onto the floor. "Three guesses about whom."

"The same person everyone's going nuts over?"

"Yes." Gray stomped on the ground. "She's just up and_ leaving_! It's making Grandpa go crazy. He keeps throwing his pliers and mumbling things to himself. Every now and then he'll start asking me stuff, like it's _my _fault she's leaving. Once he even said something like, 'if only I'd taken _her_' and left abruptly." He shook his head.

"Well, I don't know a lot about Brigget…." Mary started. "Not as much as a lot of people in this town do, anyway. But she doesn't seem like the type who would leave without a reason."

"Of course there's a reason! She's trying to keep us all safe!" Gray said. "And I don't know why I'm the only one who understands this. I want her to stay too, of course, but if she's going to put the town in danger, she has no reason to stay."

"But if the town has said that she can stay, she can stay." Mary insisted. "Besides, Rick can—"

"Rick _doesn't know_." Gray stood. "That's the problem."

"What?" Mary rose so fast, she knocked her seat over. "How can he _not _know?"

"Brigget asked us not to tell him. She said it would be easier for her to leave." Gray clarified.

"But, he's crazy for her! There's no way…. She can't…." Mary frowned. "How is it that the closest person to her in the town doesn't know, but the farthest one from her does?"

"You mean Karen?" Gray asked. "Karen is totally for her leaving. There's no way she would even _think _of telling Rick." Mary rubbed her chin.

"But, if she did that… that would mean…." Suddenly, so abruptly that it made Gray jump, Mary grinned.

"Stay here, Gray." She ordered, pushing him out of the way of the door. "I'll be back in a bit."

She left.

-----

_Tap, tap, tap…._

Ann tapped the table softly with her head. She felt like her eyes were about to roll into the back of her head. There's no way she could have felt anything like this before. Her fingers drummed in front of her.

Yup. Ann was bored.

She wouldn't have been bored if it weren't for that stupid fight three stupid days ago with that stupid Wolvite attacking stupid Brigget and giving her those stupid injuries on her stupid body and making stupid Brigget think she had to stupid leave.

Stupid Brigget.

"What's wrong?"

"Wai!" Ann fell out of her chair, having jumped at the voice. Cliff flinched, rushing over to her.

"I'm so sorry! I didn't mean for you to fall. How very rude of me!" He insisted. He pulled her off the ground, turning maroon at the look Ann was giving him.

"That's okay." She said, taking her seat back. "That's the most fun I've had all day."

"I know what you mean." Cliff took a seat next to Ann. "With Brigget fighting the Wolvite, almost getting killed, and then leaving, the whole town's in an uproar."

"How are her wounds now, anyway?" Ann asked.

"They're fine. Most of them have totally disappeared." Cliff sniffed, looking at the floor. "Her wrist was still sore, though."

"From the boulder you threw?" Ann guessed. Cliff nodded. "You know, I talked to her in the Clinic about that."

"You did?" Cliff turned even redder.

"Yup." Ann ran a hand through her hair. It needed to be re-braided. Ooh, where was her dad when she needed him? She couldn't French braid her hair herself. "I asked her why she blocked the boulder from hitting Tanya's wing and broke her wrist, when Tanya would have let her go sooner."

"What did Brigget answer?" Cliff asked.

"She said, 'there's no worse pain in the world than an irreversible break in the wing,' and wouldn't say anything else." Ann answered. "But then, she wouldn't have even if I asked her again. Rick came back into the Clinic and I had to leave."

"You stopped talking because Rick came in?" Cliff raised an eyebrow.

"You know I suck at keeping secrets." Ann pushed Cliff's shoulder a bit. "And moments before, Brigget made me swear I wouldn't tell Rick what she was up to."

"She made me do the same thing."

"She's made _everyone _in town swear! The only one who doesn't know Brigget's going to leave is Rick! That's why he's the only one in this town who's acting normal!" Ann raged.

"Karen is, too." Cliff mentioned, holding up a timid finger. "She's happy Brigget's leaving."

"Of _course_ she's happy Brigget's leaving! She's getting rid of the competition without raising a finger! What she doesn't realize is that she's going to make Rick miserable and unhappy and why would anyone—" She stopped. Her eyes widened and her face paled. Cliff thought she was having a heart attack for a moment and was about to administer help when she suddenly beamed. She flung her arms around a frightened Cliff and squealed. "Cliff! You're a genius! You're dinner's on me tonight! Oh, I'd better hurry. You stay here!"

She was gone.

-----

Eli sighed, laying her head in her hands. She could still hear the Doctor shouting in the room next to her. She could also hear the meek replies of Thomas.

"WHAT DO YOU MEAN SHE'S LEAVING?!" Yelled the Doctor. Eli winced.

"Well, you see, she seems to think it'd be safer if—" Thomas was interrupted.

"WE HELD THE MEETING, WE AGREED SHE COULD STAY! SHE'S _NOT_ LEAVING!"

"It's her choice, Doctor…."

Eli could hear the Doctor sigh, and it seemed like he was forcing himself to stay calm.

"What about Rick?" There was a pause where the Doctor was expecting to hear an answer from Thomas. "_Rick_ can make her stay! Why won't he—" This time Thomas interrupted, his voice harder than stone.

"Brigget made it clear that she would rather Rick…. Not…. Know."

"WHAT?!" The Doctor flew into another rage.

Eli slammed the Clinic door shut behind her as she left. She didn't like it when Doctor Trent got into his rampages. She leaned onto the side of the Clinic and sighed, crossing her arms.

No one wanted Brigget to leave. They all wanted to keep her with them. Saibara had explained her reason being there with them, and everyone felt the exact same way for it. _Everyone _had said they would help Brigget.

Everyone except Karen, who hadn't said a word the whole meeting.

"Eli."

The voice startled her. Standing in front of her was a pink-haired, pout-faced girl with her arms folded and her lips pursed.

"Oh, Popuri, you scared me." Eli sighed.

"Sorry." Popuri was mad. Eli could tell.

"What's wrong?"

"My brother's too dense to realize a hint when he sees one."

Eli snorted.

"You tried to hint to him that Brigget's leaving?"

"He doesn't seem to get it. I promised Brigget I wouldn't _tell_, but she didn't say I couldn't hint."

"And he's not getting the hints."

"Correct."

"Well, the Doctor isn't taking too kindly to the idea of her leaving, either." Eli shrugged.

"I thought he wouldn't."

"No one seems to know what to do. No one can dissuade Brigget to stay."

"We need someone else to talk to her."

"People _have _been talking to her."

"Her _friends _have been talking to her."

Eli squinted. She furrowed her forehead. "So…. We should get one of her _not_-friends to talk to her?"

"Don't be stupid, Eli." Popuri laughed. "We need _Rick _to talk to her."

"But we can't _tell _Rick."

"_We _can't. But who's the one person in the town that hasn't talked to Brigget if it could be helped? Who would be the only person who wouldn't care if Brigget left or not?" Eli thought for a moment. "Who's the one person in the whole _town _who hasn't sworn to Brigget that Rick wouldn't know Brigget was leaving?"

"Karen."

"Correct."

"But why would Karen help?"

"I have an idea."

"Hey, you guys!"

Popuri and Eli swung around to see a frantic Ann pelting toward them.

"Does Rick know yet?" She asked. Popuri shook her head. Ann huffed, resting her hands on her knees as she stopped in front of Popuri. "Drat. Oh well. I have an idea, you guys!"

"So do I." Popuri replied.

"Wait a moment!"

Mary waddled hurriedly over to the circle the girls were now making.

"Hello, Mary." Ann said happily. Mary nodded her greetings.

"I have a good idea." She blurted.

"So do _they_, apparently." Eli gestured to Ann and Popuri.

"Does it have to do with Karen?" Mary asked. They all nodded. "Good. Then we're on the same page."

"No, we're not." Eli pouted. "I still don't know what's going on!" Popuri gave Eli a sharp look, reprimanding her for her slowness. She explained as they made a rush to the Supermarket.

"Karen is in love with Rick. Rick is in love with Brigget. If Brigget leaves, Rick will be thrown into misery. If we make Karen think it'll be her fault that Rick's sad, we can get _her _to tell _Rick_, because she's the only one who hasn't sworn."

"Oh!" Eli's expression brightened. "That's a good idea."

Popuri walked into the Supermarket.

"Jeff!" She called loudly. Jeff hurried into the room, flinching at every little thing.

"Y-yes, Po-Popuri?" He asked. He was slightly freaked to see all four girls with the same set look on their faces. "W-what can I d-d-do for you girls?"

"Where's Karen?" Eli asked.

"Here I am!" Karen burst through the back door happily, gliding toward her friends. "Welcome, welcome! I'm so glad you all dropped by! Free chocolate, all on me today!"

"Is there something to be happy about, Karen?" Popuri growled. Karen giggled.

"Of course there is." She stated. "The mutt's leaving for _good_."

"And you're all right with this?" Ann asked.

"It's her fault for coming here and trying to steal my boyfriend!" Karen seethed.

"I'm j-j-just going to g-g-go, Karen." Jeff left to his home from the back door.

"He's not your boyfriend." Mary pointed out. "You two have never clarified that." Karen turned an angry red.

"We would be, if it weren't for her, stealing him away from me like that! We can't have a civilized conversation without _her _popping in every other word he says. It's _her _fault." Karen spat.

"And even if you two were an item, I don't believe you would put my poor brother through such a torture." Popuri sighed, sitting on a counter. Karen's face hesitated in its smile for a moment, but quickly turned back into a smile.

"What are you talking about?" She asked. Ann took a deep breath, exhaling slowly as she sat on the table next to Popuri.

"Oh, you _know_." She nudged Karen. "The whole love triangle you seem to see going on?"

"What about it?" Karen snapped.

"Well," Mary adjusted her glasses smartly. "You like Rick. Rick likes Brigget. Let me _finish_." She added as Karen gave her a dark look. "You know it, too. You've seen the signs just like I have." She ran a hand through her hair confidently. "You also know as well as we do that Brigget is leaving."

"I know," Karen said. "Everyone but Rick knows."

"I'm glad we don't have to explain _that _to you." Popuri's expression suddenly became shadowy. "But do you know what will happen to Rick when she leaves?"

"He'll be completely free." Karen answered. Popuri jumped to her feet. Ann and Mary had to hold the furious girl back.

"No, you incompetent, selfish, flea-bag!" She growled. She began shouting at the top of her lungs. "You know what he's going to do? He's going to blame everyone in the town for not telling him that she's gone. He's going to hate the world because the one thing that ever interested him fully and completely ran away under his nose." Eli now had to come and help hold down the enraged woman. "HE'S GOING TO _DESPISE _YOU BECAUSE YOU'RE THE _ONLY ONE _IN THE WHOLE TOWN WHO _HASN'T SWORN _TO TELL HIM THAT SHE'S LEAVING!" Karen stared, wide-eyed at her furious friend. Popuri sank to her knees, obviously exhausted from shouting.

"Popuri…."

"And it'll all be your fault." Popuri said. "My brother's misery will be you fault."

Karen bolted out the door.

Popuri stood, brushing off the dirt from her apron. Suddenly, she smiled.

"I swear I should go to acting school." She said, brushing out her hair. The others giggled uncertainly. "Come on," She said. "Let's get to Wolf Stables. This should get interesting."

-----

Rick sat on the fence, staring across the river to Wolf Stables. Something was happening, he could tell. He just couldn't see _what_. Whenever he walked anywhere, everyone looked at him with an air of despair. It made him feel uncomfortable. It also left him with a sense of feeling left out.

The sun glared into his eyes, breaking his train of thought. He looked at his watch. It was around 6:30.

_Wow, _he thought, _this day has certainly gone by—_

"RICK!"

Rick leapt off of the fence, only to be hit in the chest. He caught a frightened Karen, flying into him.

"What? What? What is it?" He asked. She wound her arms around him and burst into tears. Shocked, he pulled her away and stared at her tear-ridden face. "What happened?" He asked. "Was someone picking on you?"

"No, it's not—I can't—I'm _sorry_!!" She cried, tears gushing down her face. "I wasn't going to—but then—you wouldn't—and I'd just—don't be mad at meee!"

"What? Why would I be mad at you?" He asked. Karen sniffed, hiccupping and wiping a tear from her cheek.

"I-I should have t-t-told you before," She said. "N-No one else could."

"No one else could tell me _what_?" He asked. "Is this about why everyone's looking at me so strangely?"

"Rick…. Brigget, she…."

"What about Brigget?" Rick asked. Karen stared at the ground. Rick shook her slightly to pull her attention back to him. "Karen. What…about…Brigget?"

"From what she said, you should be able to catch her if you run." She simply said. She kissed Rick on the cheek.

"What?!" Rick widened his eyes dangerously. "She's _leaving_?"

"Rick—"

"She's _leaving_?" Rick was dumbfounded. She'd been planning to leave all day and no one told her.

"Rick, please—"

"She—that—you—" He stared at Karen angrily for a moment, groaned loudly, and took off running.

-----

Brigget placed the last thing needed into her back. She patted Kaiser on the nose and whistled for her dog.

"Ribbon! Let's go." Her dog bounded up to her, barking happily. Brigget laughed. "Yes, yes, I packed the treats. Don't you worry. Now, I need you to go inside and get the map and the reins." Ribbon licked her face once and bolted for the house.

Brigget cricked her back, heading toward the stable. She picked up the large saddle hanging on the fence Brigget built for future cows and swung it around.

"Going somewhere?"

Brigget inwardly freaked. Rick stood in front of her, his arms crossed and a seriously pissed look on his face. Brigget took a deep breath and walked past him to Kaiser.

"Yes." She answered, throwing the saddle onto Kaiser's back. He jerked under the new weight, but held it up nicely. She strapped it underneath him and patted his back.

For a while Rick didn't speak, as if trying to see if she would add something to her vague answer. Finally he opened his mouth and spoke.

"And just _where _are you running to?" He asked. She turned to him, her face held a smile but her eyes shrieked alarm.

"If I told you _that_, it would sort of ruin the whole thing about me not telling you in the first place." She answered, winking.

"You _are_ running away, aren't you?" Rick guessed as Brigget fed oats to Kaiser. She shrugged.

"It all depends on how you see it." She said. "You and I both call it running away. Saibara and Thomas call it protecting everyone. Well, they do now that I've explained."

"That's another thing!" Rick said, pointing a finger at Brigget. "Why didn't you tell me you were leaving?"

"Because I knew you were going to do something like this." Brigget answered. "That reminds me, how did you find out?"

"Karen."

"Huh. The one person I figured wouldn't tell." Brigget bit her lip. "That's interesting. I smell a plot." She turned to the entrance of her farm. Four girls stood with their arms crossed there, smirking. Rick turned and stared.

Popuri glanced at him for a second. It was then he realized just how smart his sister was. He recalled advice she had given him not too long ago about something like this. Now it made sense.

"_Just because you think Brigget's doing something, doesn't mean she isn't doing something else."_

"Thanks for the help there," Brigget said coolly, waving a hand. The four girls smiled mischievously. On the inside, Brigget was panicking. How was she going to get out now? Did these four know what they were getting into?

Shrugging off her anxiety, Brigget whistled for her dog again. Ribbon pelted toward her, a map and a rope in her mouth. Brigget took them and placed them into her bag.

"How do you get so many things to fit in that backpack?" Rick asked.

"It's magic, sort of. I can put anything—or anyone, I guess—into it and it'll stay in sort of like another dimension exactly as I left it there until I pull it out again. No matter if it's _years _until I use it again, it comes out like I just put it in there. And I can fit almost anything in there."

"Is that why you never take it off?" Rick asked.

"One of the reasons." Brigget smirked, leading the horse out of the farm.

Dread ripped through Rick as he realized Brigget was getting away. He bolted after her.

"So you're still intent on leaving, even if I know?" He asked, walking alongside her across the street.

"Pretty much, yeah." Brigget shrugged.

"I'm going with you."

"No, you're not."

"Yes I am."

"No, seriously, you're not." Brigget stared at him. "That was kind of why I didn't tell you in the first place."

"You're taking the coward's way out!" Rick spoke before he thought. Brigget stopped walking. She shook her head.

"You know, part of me thinks that, too." She said, not daring to look at him. This only made him angrier. She kept walking.

They were in the main plaza now. Rick had to do something or she'd leave and never come back. He went with the first idea that came to mind: Make her mad.

"You don't care!" He finally screamed. Once again Brigget stopped walking. She froze, rigid and tense. Rick went on. "You don't care that your leaving us will make everything different! You don't care that Cliff has gotten more confident, that Kai has been less drunk, that even _Mom_ has gotten a little bit better!"

Brigget turned, now angry. She was inches from Rick and she glared daggers.

"Don't care?" She repeated. "Don't _care_? Rick, I'm _leaving_ because I care!"

There was an eerie silence as Rick and Brigget argued. Popuri, Ann, Mary and Eli, who had followed behind a few steps as the shouting got louder, were now stunned into an awed stillness.

"If I stay and get caught, then it's _over_. The Wolvites lose. If I leave they won't know where I've gone and we're all still safe."

"That doesn't mean you care about any of us!" Rick shouted.

"Of _course _it does! They know where I am! They're going to rip the city apart trying to get at me! I don't know about you, but I'm not that enthused about having _that _on my conscience."

"_You're _conscience?" Rick sputtered. "We're talking about _you're _conscience? You were going to leave here without telling me! How do you think I was feeling; having everyone look at me like it's _my fault _everything that's happened today _happened?_" He threw his arms in the air. "You don't care!"

"Like hell I don't!" Brigget screeched. "Prove that I don't care!"

"You're leaving!"

"Yes, and that's _so _much crueler than staying and letting the eerie mess get knocked out of the townsfolk because I decided to stay and the Wolvites came after me and picked on the town."

"All right, you know what's cruel? What's cruel is not telling me that you're leaving. I had to find out from Karen while she was crying her _eyes _out!"

"She did it for her own sake." Brigget spat. She pulled Kaiser toward the beach to board the ferry.

"You…. You still haven't proved that you care." Rick was running out of ideas. He ran in front of Kaiser and blocked Brigget's path to the beach.

"Rick, I'm _leaving _because I care!" She growled. "I'm leaving because I care about Popuri; I'm leaving because I care about you—_you_, because I care about—"

Rick didn't know what happened. He didn't know what he was doing. He hadn't realized that he had cupped Brigget's face in his hands and brought it toward his own.

Likewise, Brigget in no way predicted that he would have kissed her. One second she was yelling at him and the next he was laid his hands on her cheeks and pulled her to him. She immediately turned red. Her eyes stayed wide open. Alarmed, she tried to pull back.

Rick could feel her pull away. He held her in place.

_Well, _he thought to himself, _I got myself in this situation; I might as well finish it._

Brigget was panicking. Rick's lips were soft and pleading against hers, and he gently prodded into her mouth. It was actually quite nice, but Brigget tried not to give in.

Rick wrapped his arms around Brigget's waist, determined not to let her leave.

_Please…. _He thought desperately. _Please…._

The four other girls, meanwhile, stared blankly. Popuri had slapped her hands to her mouth, trying to stifle cries of glee. Eli had fainted dead away. Ann muffled her own squeal and hugged Mary, who started crying.

Brigget was still kissing Rick. He wouldn't let her go. And it was kind of pleasant. Slowly, Brigget relaxed in Rick's arms and closed her eyes.

Rick felt a wave of relief as Brigget stopped tensing her muscles. She nervously leaned onto him. Rick broke the kiss away. Brigget's eyes stayed closed, as if she was scared to open them. Her eyes opened bit by bit, and soon two large yellow eyes stared at Rick, with horrified expressions on them. Brigget bit her bottom lip anxiously.

"I'm sorry," Rick said quietly. "I know you care. I know," He placed his forehead against hers.

"You do?" She asked, so quietly it was almost inaudible.

"You're scared." He answered. "In fact, I bet you're terrified. You've spent seventeen years running from your past, and now that you've found a place that you feel welcome in, the Wolvites find you and threaten your comfortable life." Rick's arms tightened their hold on Brigget, who was now shaking slightly. "But it's okay. It's all right. The town has ways of protecting itself. We _need _you, Brigget; almost as much as you need us. And…." Rick licked his lips, watching the bright yellow of her eyes calmly switch back into the beautiful grass-green they were supposed to be. "And… I need you. Please, Brigget. Don't leave."

_Damn. _Brigget thought sourly. _Damn. _This wasn't good. How could she come up with a reply to that? It was too good. She opened her mouth and nothing came out.

"I—" Brigget sputtered. For good measure, Rick placed another kiss onto her lips, quickly pulling away.

That was it. Brigget couldn't take any more.

"Well…." She shrugged. Rick's arms tightened around her waist. "I don't think I could give a comeback to that, even if I wanted to…."

"So you'll stay?" Rick asked, a light in his eyes gleaming. Brigget took a deep breath.

"Yes." She answered. "Damn it, yes."

Applause broke out. Uproarious applause. Both Rick and Brigget jumped and turned around. Behind the four girls who started the whole mess were the people of the town, clapping as loudly as they could. Brigget reddened, pulling back into Rick. Rick hugged her.

"Come on," Saibara—who was clapping loudest—said. "We've got a lot of things to do."

With a shrug, Brigget followed Saibara, hand-in-hand with Rick.

-----

**Yes! I finished it! Took me for friggin EVER, too. T.T Oh, well. I think it's my best chapter so far. n.n**

**Any of you guys (besides Koholint, because I already know you do) have an account on Deviant Art? I can't draw worth a lick, but I was wondering if anyone would draw something from WolfStables for me. I have all these images in my head and it irritates me that I can't put them on paper. And I'm probably going to give Koholint carpel tunnel with all the drawings she and I have already done. Just a thought.**

**Please review!**


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